BOSTON — Tatyana McFadden continued her domination of wheelchair racing, winning her second straight Boston Marathon on her 25th birthday on Monday.
McFadden, who swept the Boston, Chicago, London and New York City Marathons last year, won in 1 hour, 35 minutes, 6 seconds, for her sixth straight major marathon victory.
“It was definitely a great birthday present,” McFadden said on Universal Sports. “The last climb, around mile 23, my arms started to shake. I could feel the exhaustion.”
McFadden wore on her back the name of Martin Richard, the 8-year-old boy killed in last year’s bombing.
“I run for Martin,” she said. “I run for his family. I run for any others who were affected by the bombing last year.”
South African Ernst van Dyk, a 41-year-old six-time Paralympian, won his 10th career men’s wheelchair Boston Marathon, clocking an unofficial 1:20:36.
McFadden won last year in 1:45:25. She took the lead Monday by the 13 1/2-mile mark.
McFadden won a silver medal at the Sochi Paralympics in March, her Winter Paralympic debut. She’s a 10-time Summer Paralympic track and field medalist and, last year, became the first athlete to win six gold medals at a single IPC Athletics World Championships.
McFadden’s second title is still well shy of the record for women’s wheelchair victories in Boston — eight, held by the legendary American Jean Driscoll, who won every edition from 1990 through 1996 and again in 2000.
McFadden broke the course record in repeating as London Marathon champion on April 13. She had not yet committed to defending her titles in Chicago and New York City upon returning from Sochi in March.
McFadden expects to return to track racing, perhaps adding an event at the Rio Paralympics, and getting back to cross-country skiing.
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