Heading into the race, Van Dyk was the heavy favourite having won the Boston Marathon on an astonishing nine previous occasions with his biggest challenge expected to come from triple Paralympic gold medallist Fearnley, who opted to skip yesterday's Virgin London Marathon and a showdown with big rival Dave Weir of Britain in favour of the race in America.

But pair were upstaged by surprise package Soejima who claimed his second Boston Marathon victory by outsprinting both Fearnley and Van Dyk in a thrilling climax to the race.

The 40-year-old Soejima, who raced wearing a sticker on his jersey that read "Strength and Courage", finished in a phenomenal time of 1 hour 18min 50sec with Fearnley and Van Dyk finishing a second behind as they shared the same time in second and third.

"I was thinking until my hands start bleeding, until my heart stops, I am going to try until the very end," said Soejima, who lost use of his legs at the age of 23 when a building collapsed.

"With everything that has happened in Japan, I really wanted to try hard this year, especially to finish in Boston and do well for my country.

"At no point did I think I was all set.

"I just kept pushing with everything I had until I cut the tape."

Despite crying as he crossed the finish line, Soejima made light of the incident.

"I wish I looked cooler, I wish I had sunglasses or something," he joked.

Soejima even earned praise from those he beat.

"I think the country deserves as much good news as possible," Fearnley said.


Meanwhile in the women's race, defending champion Wakako Tsuchida (pictured) made it a double success for Japan as she stormed to victory in 1:34:06.

The winning time from the 37-year-old was a world best but not world record as the course is downhill.

American pair Shirley Reilly and Christina Ripp were second and third respectively.

Reilly finished in 1:41:01 with Ripp crossing the line in 1:41:02.

Tsuchida, who lost use of her legs in a car crash when she was 17, lives in Tokyo and was affected by the gasoline and water shortages caused by the natural disasters and subsequent nuclear emergency.

In fact, she was scared that she would not even make it to Boston but ended up doing her country proud.

"I really wanted to do well for everybody, especially everybody back home," she said.

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