Paul Rouget, Media365: published on Tuesday, October 12, 2021 at 2:11 p.m.
Wheelchair Boston Marathon winner, Swiss Marcel Hug was angry with himself after the finish. Because he let 50,000 dollars slip away by taking the wrong route …
After the London Marathon, where the Ethiopian winner Sisay Lemma had lost 25,000 dollars (nearly 21,500 euros) for having greeted the spectators a little too longs before the finish, a similar mishap happened on Monday during the Boston event, won by Kenyans Benson Kipruto and Diana Kipyogei, even if this time an error on the course which cost (very) dearly to its author. Winner for the fifth time in the legendary wheelchair event, Marcel Hug pocketed a check for 25,000 dollars (just over 21,600 euros) for this new success in Massachusetts. Except that he could have collected double as a bonus, or 50,000 dollars (nearly 43,300 euros), if he had not taken the wrong route before the finish!
“I am very angry”
While he had set the previous record for the Boston marathon with a time of 1h18’04 in 2017, the 35-year-old Swiss could not beat this record and win the bonus of $ 50,000, finally finishing in 1h18’11. . And this because he followed a vehicle taking Commonwealth Avenue instead of passing through Hereford Street, a well-known end of the course that even appears on T-shirts sold in Boston … “I followed the lead car to the instead of turning right. I would say it cost me 20 seconds and I probably could have broken the record without it. It’s my fault. I was just focused on my performance. I didn’t think about that. It’s sad, but it happens “, he first commented, before explaining to be” mixed “on his day.” There, now, I am very angry. I hope I will feel happier in a few hours, “said the four-time Paralympic medalist from Tokyo.
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