Geoffrey Mutai prevails at the Giro di Castelbuono run - Athletics news
Geoffrey Mutai, the 29-year-old long distance runner form Kenya, added another feather to her cap by emerging at the prestigious Giro di Castelbuono race, which is regarded as the oldest European meet for dishing out its 86th edition this season.
The Castelbuono race is an annual running event spread over a track of 11.2km and is organised in the Italian island, Sicily. It was initiated back in 1912 and from there onwards, except observing a few breaks amid deteriorated relations on diplomatic fronts
between European countries (during the world wars), it has never had a hiatus. The run has also gained the status of a national meet in Italy.
The event this year had been a true depiction of the level of potential athletes possessed for emerging over each other. Unfolding in a traditional way, the race had three of the most formidable athletes to display for the interest of its loyal spectators.
These three athletes were comprised of the ever dominating young long distance Kenyan runner, Mutai, along with Ethiopia’s Gebreegziaber Gebremariam and Emmanuel Mutai, who is also from Kenya. Other prominent athletes appearing at the run were Abderrahim Goumri
from Morocco and Kenya’s Matthew Kisorio.
There was a major change in the commencement of the Castelbuono race, as it saw a shift from the traditional 11.3km long track to a newly furnished 10km certified loop. In 2012, the event is going to celebrate its one hundredth anniversary. However, for
celebrating this traditional event, organisers will also have to make some major changes to the schedule of the race. To avoid a clash with the London Olympics next year, instead of July, it will be held on September 13.
As this year’s race kicked-off, it observed runners covering their initial nine laps of the race through the Piazza Margherita. The top runners of the meet, comprised of Mutain, Matthew Kisorio and Gebremariam, decided to pull themselves away from rest of
the leading lot, by the time they were done with the initial three laps.
By the half-distance, Mutai, who had been in the race with the resolve to bag the prestigious title, decided to pull himself away from rest of the two rivals. While doing so, surprisingly, he did not face any challenge from his challengers. This was a factor
which only resulted in increasing his confidence, but also prompted him to build on his lead further.
Gebremariam, who had to compete Kisorio with for a second position on the podium, eventually finished-off his race ahead of his competitors. Kisorio, the third prominent finisher of the run, took home a bronze medal with his performance in the respective
meet.
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