Tough Break

Pounding it out in Boston

Alberto Salazar's victory in the Boston Marathon last week came in the record-breaking time of 2:08:51. It was an extraordinary performance, but it was no more remarkable than the finish of Guy Gertsch. The Salt Lake City bus-station ticket agent finished No. 985 in the entirely ordinary time of 2:47. But he did it on a broken leg. Gertsch, 38, felt what he thought was a cramp starting after seven miles. But he was determined to finish, and so he pounded on for 19 more miles before collapsing at the finish line. Doctors, who later set his right femur with a steel rod, theorized that his powerful thigh muscle had acted as a splint until he finally relaxed at race's end.

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