GEOFFREY MUTAI WINS AGAIN, THIS TIME IN BOGOTA
By David Monti
(c) 2011 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved

Reigning Boston Marathon champion Geoffrey Mutai won his fourth consecutive road race of 2011 today at the Media Maratón Internacional in Bogotá, Colombia, earlier today. 

Mutai, who handily won the 10-kilometer Giro Podistico Internazionale di Castelbuono in Sicily last Tuesday by over a minute, romped to an even more dominating victory in Bogotá.  The 29 year-old Kenyan clocked a course record 1:02:20 to defeat defending champion and course record-holder Deriba Merga of Ethiopia, who finished second in 1:04:49.  Reigning Rotterdam Marathon champion Wilson Chebet was third in 1:04:57.  The race was held at very high altitude: 2600m/8530 ft.

Both of Mutai's other road racing victories came in Boston this year, where he won the Boston Marathon in a course record time of 2:03:02, then ran the  fastest-ever certified 10-K in the United States contested on a loop course, the B.A.A. 10-K last June, in a personal best 27:19.  Mutai also recorded two victories during the cross country season, including the Kenyan Cross Country Championships and World Team Trials last February.

In the women's contest in Bogotá, Kenya's Joyce Chepkirui got the win in 1:13:34 over Ethiopia's Mare Dibaba (1:13:54).

PHOTO: Geoffrey Mutai after winning the 2011 Giro Podistico Internazionale di Castelbuono (photo couresy of the Giro Podistico Internazionale di Castelbuono)