Posted at 7:14 a.m., Sunday, May 20, 2007
2004 Honolulu runner-up wins marathon in Australia
Associated Press
APOLLO BAY, Australia — Kenyan David Mutua, the 2004 Honolulu Marathon runner-up, won his first international race over the distance today in the Great Ocean Road Marathon.Mutua, 28, dueled with last year's winner James Kariuki, also of Kenya, before breaking away over the last two kilometers to win the race between the southeastern Australian tourist towns of Lorne and Apollo Bay in 2 hours, 36 minutes, 35 seconds.
Australian Helen Stanton won the women's marathon in 2:58.15.
The race followed one of the most popular tourist drives in Australia, featuring numerous steep grades and tight turns but spectacular, sweeping views of Bass Strait and the Southern Ocean.
Mutua, also runner-up in last year's San Diego Marathon, was one of five Kenyans competing at the two-day Great Ocean Road Festival of Distance Running.
His countryman, Willy Mwangi, won the 6.5-kilometer (4-mile) Apollo Bay-Marriner's Lookout trek Saturday and recorded an easy victory in the half-marathon from Kennett River to Apollo Bay on Sunday.
