Saul Mendoza
Home: Snellville, Ga.
Age: 33
Classification: T4
Personal best: 1:21:24 (Oita, Japan; 1999)

Mendoza registered the third fastest time in the history of the sport and shattered his own personal best by three minutes and 54 seconds to place second at the 1999 Oita (Japan) Marathon in 1:21:24.

This year’s race will mark his fourth consecutive appearance at Boston, and he has shown regular improvement in each of his first three. He finished second a year ago, in a then personal best time of 1:25:18, while he was third in 1998 in 1:26:38. His Boston debut occurred in 1997, when finished sixth in 1:42:36. Mendoza enters this year’s race following his fourth consecutive triumph at last month’s Los Angeles Marathon (1:42:33).

He was one of the more active competitors a year ago, winning the Los Angeles (1:28:42), Columbus (1:34:14) and Grandma’s (Duluth, Minnesota; 1:31:05) Marathons. He also finished second at the Twin Cities (1:36:42) and fourth at the Honolulu (1:48:07) Marathons. At other distances, Mendoza captured the 1999 Old Kent Riverbank 25K (Grand Rapids, Michigan; 53:19) for the second consecutive year, won the Riverside Rumble (Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania; 20:03) which served as the National 10K Championships and won the Lilac Bloomsday 10K (Spokane, Washington; 26:29). He won the 1997 Chicago Marathon (1:37:42), while he was second at the 1998 Columbus (1:37:35) and Oita (1:28:21) Marathons.