The world's oldest annual marathon, established in 1897, was not included in the International Association of Athletics Federation's (IAAF) list of suitable venues for official records drawn up in 2004 as there is too great a distance between the start and finish and the hilly course has more than three times the permitted overall drop.

Boston officials however have said they will fill out the paperwork required to have the record certified.

The Boston Athletic Association (BAA) have already promised that the race would pay Mutai the $75,000 (£45,000) in bonuses he earned for breaking the course record and achieving a world best.

On Tuesday, the Kenyan was presented with a ceremonial cheque; because it had been printed in advance, the first prize of $150,000 (£91,000) was crossed out and $225,000 (£136,000) was written in.

The IAAF ruling established on January 1, 2004 (Section X, Rule 260.28 of the IAAF Competition Rules) maintains: "The start and finish points of a course, measured along a theoretical straight line between them, shall not be further apart than 50 per cent of the race distance."

It adds: "The decrease in elevation between the start and finish shall not exceed an average of one in a thousand, i.e. 1m per km."

In the wake of Mutai's extraordinary performance, 57 seconds faster than the official world record of 2:03:59 set by Ethiopia's Haile Gebrselassie at Berlin in 2008, thre was speculation that the runners on the course had been aided by a tailwind.

"It was at our back," Mutai said.

"But it wasn't such a big wind."

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


Related stories
April 2011: Kenyan runs fastest ever marathon to triumph in Boston