CARRERA DE LA MUJER: Olijira Looking to Resolve Unfinished Business

Bogota, Colombia – Athletes from 27 nations will be on the start line for the eighth edition of the Carrera de la Mujer in Bogota on Sunday (28), with the multinational women-only field for the IAAF Gold Label Road Race headed by the 2013 IAAF World Championships 10,000m bronze medallist Belaynesh Oljira of Ethiopia..

Oljira hasn’t quite shown the same form over the shorter distances this year, although she finished third in the African Championships 10,000m last month, as the 24-year-old Ethiopian has set her sights on doing well at the marathon, running a personal best of 2:24:21 in the Boston Marathon earlier this year.

She has a best of 31:07 over 10km on the roads, which will be the elite women’s distance in Bogota this year, returning to the course length contested in the first two years of the event before it moved up to 12km.

However, with Bogota being at 2625m altitude, higher than either Addis Ababa and Nairobi, fast times are unlikely to be to the fore of any elite runner’s priorities on Sunday.

Oljira also has unfinished business in the Colombian capital.

Last year, she was touted as the favourite after her podium finish in Moscow only to be a late withdrawal after being diagnosed with typhoid fever just prior to her departure for Bogota.

Read more at: IAAF.org