Two athletes proudly represented Colombia in the Boston Marathon on Monday with Yolanda Caballero finishing in 8th place in the women’s category and Juan Carlos Cardona finishing 12th for the men’s.
Caballero finished the 26 mile race in two hours, 26 minutes and 17 seconds while Cardona finished in 2 hours, 12 minutes and 17 seconds. Both athletes now qualify to represent their country in the 2012 London Olympics, Caracol Radio reports.
Cardona encountered physical difficulties half way through the race which affected his finishing time. “I had to go to the bathroom at [16 miles], because I had stomach problems. I do not know what I ate, I do not know why I felt that way, but then afterwards I felt good.” he said.
A third Colombian athlete, Diego Colorado, suffered cramp and only managed to reach 17th place in the men’s category.
The last time a Colombian won the Boston Marathon was in 1971 with Alvaro Mejia. A year later another Colombian athlete, Victor Mora, came second.
The winner of this year’s race, Geoffrey Mutai from Kenya, ran a world record time of 2 hours, 3 minutes and 2 seconds. However, since the wind conditions were greatly in favor of the competitors, the world record is still retained by Ethiopian Haile Gebrselassie with a time of 2 hours, 3 minutes and 59 seconds.