Leah Kiprono is returning Tuesday to her native Kenya to relieve her husband, Joseph Mutinda, who's been taking care of their two sons. Mutinda will then fly to the United States to run in a marathon.

Kiprono won't go home to Eldoret empty-handed. She collected a gold medal and $2,000 in prize money yesterday for winning the women's race in the Ukrop's Monument Avenue 10K.

Her time was 34 minutes, 19 seconds, well off the race record of 32:24 set by two-time winner Magdalene Makunzi of Kenya in 2007.

"It was a good way to finish her season," said Kiprono's manager, Scott Robinson, president of the AmeriKenyan Running Club in Santa Fe, N.M.

Kiprono, 27, never had run in Richmond before yesterday, but this "is a race that fit well for her," Robinson said. "She generally runs in the 33-, 34-minute range. . . . We knew she would be in the mix."

The course was ideal for Kiprono - "Flat and fast," she said - and the weather suited her, too.

"It's raining," she said, "but it's warm."

The women's runner-up was considerably more familiar with the course and the city. Cheryl Anderson, 26, lives in Shockoe Slip and is a fourth-year medical student at Virginia Commonwealth University.

Anderson, who will compete in the marathon April 20 at the U.S. Olympic Trials in Boston, finished in 34:22 yesterday and received $1,000 for her effort.

Though she considered the 10K a tune-up of sorts for the Olympic Trials, Anderson said she was out to win. Early in the 6.2-mile race, the lead women's group consisted of Kiprono, Anderson, Maria Elena Calle and Atalelech Ketema.

"It was kind of hard to tell the first three miles," Anderson said, "because I think we were all just feeling one another out. We were running in a pack, and no one really took the lead. Then, after the turn [on Monument], I decided I had a lot left in me, and I was going to pick it up a little bit."

Kiprono welcomed the challenge, and she and Anderson pulled away from Calle and Ketema.

"There were a few times where I got a couple meters on her, but [Kiprono] came right back on me," said Anderson, a former William and Mary standout.

"She was a great competitor. . . . I tried to take it a little further out, because like I said, I'm not the fastest, especially in the middle of my marathon training, so I thought strength was going to be my way to win. She was just too quick for me."

Third was Calle, an occupational therapist at Henrico Doctors' Hospital. Her time was 35:15.

Makunzi, who also won in 2006, did not enter yesterday's race.
Contact Jeff White at (804) 649-6838 or jwhite@timesdispatch.com.