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New Zealand runner Kimberly Smith - Source: Photosport
Kim Smith has won the women's title at the Boston Half Marathon
with a time of 1 hour 10 minutes 57 seconds this morning.
By winning the race, Smith also collected US$100,000 for the best
overall combined times in a three-race series that features the
Boston 5K and 10Ks, run earlier this year.
The 30 year old from Papakura, now based in Providence, Rhode
Island, went into today's competition with a 16-second lead in the
Medley over Ethiopia's Aheza Kiros, so her strategy was to keep
Kiros in sight but not push the pace.
"We were going so slow at the start. It was weird," said Smith, who
finished 15 in the London Olympic Marathon.
Smith and Kiros ran together for the first half of the race, before
Smith made her break.
"We were both throwing in some surges after about halfway," said
Smith. "And then at about the 9-mile mark I threw in one last surge
and got away. I got a bit of a gap and just kept it going."
Smith hit the 15K mark in 50:23, with a five-second lead on Kiros
and widened her lead to the end of the race. Kiros eventually
finished nearly two minutes behind Smith in 1:12:50.
Smith, who was married on 1 September, said that she was relieved
that the race was over, and that it didn't take too much out of
her, a big concern as she turns her attention to her next race, the
New York Marathon in four weeks on November 4.