RODGERS LEAVES NO DOUBT -
HE IS KING OF THE ROAD
RODGERS: PURE WILL POWER'
By Joe Concannon
Globe Staff
As Bill Rodgers ran across the finish line in the 84th Boston Marathon yesterday afternoon, he symbolically held up the four fingers of his right hand, a brief and personal gesture to history, an acknowledgement that he had entered the record books with his latest victory.
With his grinding win on this unexpectedly warm and sunny afternoon, he joined Gerard Cote as a four-time winner of the oldest continuing marathon in the world, leaving only the late Clarence DeMar with his seemingly unapproachable seven laurel wreaths out in front. And his 2:12.11 performance made him only the second man, along with DeMar, to prevail three straight years.
"The greatest satisfaction in this win was because I felt like quitting. I was falling apart. The race was easier last year. (Rodgers fought off the challenge of Toshishiko Seko of Japan on the Newton hills and won by 45 seconds.) This was my toughest Boston win. I felt strong when I held off Jeff Wells (to win by two seconds in 1978), but I felt I might collapse before the finish line today. I was running so slow. I couldn't have moved today anything like I did on Wells.
"There was great crowd support. I had visions of someone coming out (because of his antiboycott comments) and slugging me. I heard a few boos. But by and large, they were very supportive. I said to myself, If I get that kind of support, I can't quit.'
"The crowds were so big. They were gigantic. When I crossed the finish line, I was almost totally deaf. It's like a dream. You're in one of those rooms where you can't see anything, hear anything, feel anything. That's what it was like. The crowd was very intense. That's what made me run hard.
RUIZ STEADFASTLY INSISTS SHE WON THE MARATHON
Globe Staff
Rosie Ruiz slipped out of Boston yesterday, slightly shaken by all the furor stirred up by her alleged victory in the 84th Boston Marathon and maintaining to the end in a series of interviews that, "I ran the race. I cannot stand there and say, 'I did not.' "
Whether she did, in fact, race to a Boston women's record time of 2:31:56 in the sunshine and heat of a Monday afternoon may never be known for certain, but, at the moment, she remains the recognized champion as her story and performance are severely questioned.
The evidence includes TV films, photographs, eyewitness testimony and the opinions of running experts.
Not a solitary picture of her any-where on the course before the finish line at the Prudential has been seen by marathon officials or by the Globe and a review of the extensive raw footage of the race by three interns at WGBH-TV failed to show Ruiz passing by any of several cameras before the finish. Not one runner who finished within a few minutes before or after Ruiz recalled seeing her at any point of the race. And many indicated when they were running near runnerup and probable winner Jacqueline Gareau of Canada, the crowd cheered her on as the first woman.
One witness on the course insisted that she came out of the crowd from Charlesgate onto Commonwealth av. and jumped in approximately one half mile from the finish. Some spectators also insist they saw her in the vicinity of Heartbreak Hill. But the majority of witnesses said the first woman was Gareau.