Kenya's Caroline Rotich needed only four seconds to beat race leader and Ethiopian runner Mare Dibaba in the women's race of the 119^th Boston Marathon on Monday.

Boston Globe said Dibaba had a strong lead as she went through Cleveland Circle and Beacon Street while Rotich was only trying to keep up with her and another Ethiopian, Buzunesh Deba.

With about a hundred yards left in the race, Boston Globe said it became a head-to-head battle between Rotich and Dibaba but the former sprinted her way into her first Boston victory.

Rotich reportedly finished the raced in 2 hours 24 minutes 55 seconds with her going home $150,000 richer.

"At the 25-mile mark, I was still in the group with the two ladies and I still felt strong, but I didn't know how strong they were and if they had enough for a last kick,'' said Rotich as quoted by the Boston Globe.

She added that she was determined that the race was not over until they all get to the finish line. "I didn't have a chance to say, 'Oh, I have it,' until I got to the finish line,'' the winner said.

For her part, Dibaba told Boston Globe that she was confident of winning the race. "But I realized in the last moment that I couldn't hang on, and so I had to settle for second,'' she explained.

Finishing third was Buzunesh Deba who, according to Runner's World, was the runner up of last year's winner Rita Jeptoo. Jeptoo is on a two-year suspension due to doping.

The race on Monday also gave frustrating results to American racer Desiree Linden, who led the second half of the race but only ended in fourth place.

Runner's World said Linden just came back after sustaining an injury in 2012. In 2011, she trailed by only two seconds to Boston Marathon champion Caroline Kilel of Kenya.

"I'm not an emotional person, but today was huge for me. I'm really proud of myself. You don't get those moments too often, so I'm going to soak it in, be happy, then go back to being a competitor and try to take that next leap forward in racing down Boylston again. Today's just as big as 2011 for me," Linden added.

The American racer admitted in a Competitor's report that she knew it was going to be a long day for her.

"I was alright with being aggressive and pushing it early, making it a full marathon and grinding it out. I think the weather played into that," Linden said.

She noted that she tried to maintain her lead a few times but said that the number of people around her in the race pushed her further back from going first into the finish line.