Geoffrey Mutai Crushes Deriba Merga, Breaks Course Record, and Wins Renault Car at 2011 Bogota Half Marathon
By Media Maratón de Bogotá
July 31, 2011
The favorites prevailed today in the 12th edition of the Media Maratón de Bogotá as
2011 Boston Marathon Champion Geoffrey Mutai of Kenya took the mens
race in a course record 1:02:20, and 2011s fastest woman over 10K on
the road, Joyce Chepkirui, took the womens title in 1:13:34.
The Media Maratón de Bogotá is the only IAAF Gold Label Road Race in South America.
Mens Race
Pre-race publicity favored a prolonged battle between defending champion Deriba Merga of Ethiopia and Mutai. And
the race did start out that way, with Merga and Mutai powering away
from the rest of the field to have a substantial lead by 5K. They
continued to run shoulder to shoulder past 7K, but shortly after that
Merga dropped behind Mutai briefly, and then quickly fell away.
Mutai passed 10K in 29:07 with Merga already 20 seconds behind. Mutai
was on a blistering 1:01:30 pace in Bogotás Oxygen deficient 2600m
(8530 ft) altitude, though he was 11 seconds slower than Mergas even
more blistering opening the year before. In third place
was Macharia, leading a small group that included Ridouane Harroufi of
Morocco, Stephen Mokaka of South Africa and Colombias Diego Colorado.
Mutai passed 15K in 44:10 running all alone, and at that stage was now 18 seconds behind Mergas 2010 course record. But Mutai held his form well to breast the tape in 1:02:20, 11 seconds quicker than the 1:02:31 record from last year. And
Mutai achieved the mark on a somewhat revised course consider tougher
than last years by many of the runners, Merga included!
Merga held on to
second place in 1:04:49 from the fast closing 2011 Rotterdam Marathon
champion Wilson Chebet 1:04:57 with Colorado fourth in 1:05:11 and
4-time champion Macharia fifth in 1:05:26.
Mutai margin of victory was an amazing 2 minutes and 27 seconds! Asked
if he knew he was on record pace and if this was his goal, Mutai
replied that he was running only for the victory and was pleasantly
surprised to learn that he had captured the record.
Womens Race
Kenyan Joyce
Chepkirui took the lead from the very start, and powered through the
first kilometer in an eye-popping 3 minutes flat, with just fellow
Kenyan Peninah Arusei (a Bronze medalist over the half marathon in the
2010 IAAF Half Marathon Championships in Nanning, China last year) and
Ethiopian Mare Dibaba for company.
The company didnt
last long, as by 2K Chepkirui was alone and rapidly building a massive
lead. She passed through 5K in 16:28, by which time she had an almost 30
second lead over Ethiopians Dibaba and 2010 Bogotá Champion Sherwage
Alene.
By 10K the lead
was almost one minute, with Dibaba in second and 2010 IAAF World Cross
Country Champion Emily Chebet now in third.
The rapid early
pace took a toll on Chepkirui, and her lead started to shrink, slowly at
first and then more rapidly in the final kilometers. But she held on to
win her first road race in South America with a time of 1:13:34. Dibaba
crossed just 19 seconds later with 1:13:54 followed by Chebet in third
with 1:15:41, Alene fourth in 1:16:26 and Peruvian Gladys Tejeda in
fifth with 1:18:25.
Chepkirui
commented that she found the altitude and the warm (16-20C), humid
race-day weather to be more tiring than she had expected, but was happy
that she held on to win.
The Media Maratón
de Bogotá attracted 14,295 entrants thus year with another 29,903
registered in the accompanying 10K, for a grand race day total of
44,198.
Results
Men
1. Geoffrey Mutai KEN 1:02:20 CR* Car - Renault Logan
2. Deriba Merga ETH 1:04:49 12,000,000 Pesos
3. Wilson Chebet KEN 1:04:57 8,000,000
4. Diego Colorado COL 1:05:11 5,500,000
5. Isaac Macharia KEN 1:05:26 4,000,000
6. Constantino Leon PER 1:06:04 3,000,000
7. Jason Gutierrez COL 1:06:43 2,000,000
8. Stephen Mokaka RSA 1:07:17 1,500,000
9. Ridouane Harroufi MOR 1:07:21 800,000
10. Paulino Cachanya PER 1:07:24 500,000
11. Wirimai Juwawo ZIM 1:07:59
12. William Naranjo COL 1:08:00
13. Javier Guarin COL 1:08:53
14. Raul Pacheco PER 1:09:11
15. Fabian Daza COL 1:09:16
DNF Abderrahim Bouramdnae MOR
DNS Marilson Dos Santos BRA
* Mutai won an additional 3,100,000 Pesos for the Course Record
Women
1. Joyce Chepkirui KEN 1:13:34 Car Renault Logan
2. Mare Dibaba ETH 1:13:54 12,000,000 pesos
3. Emily Chebet. KEN. 1:15:41 8,000,000
4. Shewage Alene ETH 1:16:26 5,500,000
5. Gladys Tejeda PER 1:16:33 4,000,000
6. Peninah Arusei KEN 1:18:16 3,000,000
7. Jemena Misayauri PER 1:18:25 2,000,000
8. Erika Abril Suarez COL 1:18:37 1,500,000
9. Bertha Sanchez COL 1:19:34 800,000
10. Leidy Tobon COL 1:19:43 500,000
DNS Atsede Baysa ETH
DNS Yulia Gromova RUS
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