Ethiopia's Tadese Tola and Kenya's Purity Rionoripo took the honours at the Bogota Half Marathon, an IAAF Gold Label Road Race, in two races that could hardly have been more contrasting on Sunday.
According to IAAF, Tadese, the 2013 world championships marathon bronze medallist, broke away from three Kenyan rivals - Kiprop Limo, Kimutai Kiplimo and Mariu Kipserem - nine kilometres into the race.
Kipserem got back on level terms with Tola in the 13th kilometre as the Ethiopian eased back on the pace and the pair ran relatively easily shoulder-to-shoulder for the next four kilometres until Tadese surged again.
This time there was no return for Kipserem as Tadese - running his first international race since finishing second in Bogota 12 months - gradually forged a winning lead, crossing the line in 1:05:16 with Kipserem coming home 15 seconds later.
"I felt very strong throughout the race and it was a good competition for me, but the wind did not help much and certainly made it difficult to run fast times," reflected Tadese, who ended a five-year winning streak by Kenyan men at the race and became just the second Ethiopian winner in the 17-year history of the event.
Limo finished a distant third in 1:06:19 while, getting a rousing welcome at the finish line in the Parque Simon Bolivar, the first local runner home was the 42-year-old Colombian international Diego Colorado, who finished sixth in 1:07:40.
Tadese's winning time was the slowest in the history of the race, the modest times being a combination of Bogota's altitude - some of the Colombian capital lies at around 2600 metres and the slightly undulating course has a high point of 2445 metres - temperatures that peaked at around 21 degrees Celsius, stiff breezes but mainly the unwillingness of the Kenyan contingent to push the pace and challenge Tadese.
Marathon world record holder Dennis Kimetto dropped out early in the race with a recurrence of a groin strain above his right thigh, which he first suffered after a recent fall in Kenya.
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