On a sunny afternoon in the low 70s, uncomfortable for marathoners, Ndereba became the first woman to win the world's most famous foot race four times with a startling late-race surge. Ndereba, 32, completed the 109th running of the 26.2-mile race in 2 hours 25 minutes, 13 seconds.

When she crossed the finish line, Ndereba fell to her knees, thrust her arms skyward and smiled, then she rose and spread her arms wide, as if to embrace For example, Kerstin Busse, 35, of Kailua, Kona, did 3:44:51 yesterday vs. 4:37:46 last year. And Linda Komatsu-Tanaka of Wailuku did 4:00:57 vs. 4:35:31 last year.

Cooling headwinds from off the ocean greeted runners as they descended from the famed Heartbreak Hill after the 21-mile mark.

Said the 45-year-old Eager, a runner for less than four years: "Last year's race was the hardest I've done. I blew up at mile 14 and ended up walking and cramping and said 'I will never run Boston again.' "

Persuaded by a friend, Eager changed his mind, and Boston 2005 "ended up being the easiest I have done." He even had "negative splits" — doing the second half, which includes the four Newton hills (Heartbreak being the last), in two minutes less than the mostly downhill first half.

Ferreira said he has been nursing a shin splint injury since the O'ahu Perimeter Relay in late February.

"But in truth that didn't bother me," he said. "Running downhill just beats the heck out of your quads (muscles at the front of the thighs).

"I didn't have a great race. I was trying to do in the neighborhood of 2:42." But it took him about 7 minutes more to do the second half than the first.

Ferreira's wife, Sandra, 35, an insurance account manager, also ran yesterday, doing 3:35:16, fourth best among the Hawai'i women.

The No. 1 Hawai'i woman was Sayuri Kusutani, 46, who did a disappointing 3:13:01. She had been hoping to beat her 2:53:48 in last December's Honolulu Marathon. She couldn't be reached for comment.

Kristen Killian, 27, of Hono-lulu, was the next Hawai'i female finisher in 3:16:12, followed by Jennifer Burtner, 35, of Kailua in 3:30:01.

Mollie Chang, a retired teacher and Hawai'i's senior entrant at 72, finished in 5:06:49, an improvement of 23 minutes over her 2004 time. However, she slipped from first to third among all women 70 or older.

Among Hawai'i men, James Danza of Kahului, Maui, was third (2:57:48) and Eric Neilsen of Kailua, Kona was fourth (3:01:46).

Honolulu's Tim Noonan, 35, born and reared in Boston, tackled the race for a second straight year and did a 3:36:00. That was 7 minutes slower than last year but he and his wife Kelly, 42, who also did the race, weren't out for "PRs" (personal records).

"We got cheap plane tickets about a month ago and decided to run," said Noonan, an acoustical engineer. "My longest training run was just 16 miles."

The Noonans are staying with his parents in Lexington, a Boston suburb. "My dad ran, too. He has run about 20 Bostons in a row. He and I did it in about the same time, but luckily I beat him."

Joe Noonan, the dad, had a bit of a scare in passing out as he was receiving his finisher's medal.

"But he's OK," Tim said. "He was just tired."

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