Teams from Turkey, Serbia and Romania shared the honours in 52nd Balkan Cross-country Championships held at Shumen, Bulgaria, on 11 March 2007.
Marius Ionescu of Romania, the European Junior 10,000m champion in 2003, overpowered the challenge from Turkish duo Karavel Bekir and Ceylan Abdil to win the men’s title. Local favourite Stanislav Lambev, last year’s European Cup steeplechase silver medalist finished fourth.
Serbia’s Sonja Stolic, another European junior 3000m silver medallist in 1997, won the women’s 6k race from Cristina Casandra of Romania, the World junior bronze medalist in 5000m at Sydney 1996. Casandra, turned as a successful steeplechaser in recent years and was 7th in the last World championships in 2005. Stolic and her compatriot Aana Subotic aided the Serbian team to conquer the women’s team trophy.
Turkey annexed team titles in men, under-23 and junior men divisions while Romania took the u-23 and junior women.
Ram. Murali Krishnan for the IAAF
With assistance from Grzegorz Gladzikowski
Results:
Men (12 km):
1. Marius Ionescu (ROM) 37:27, 2. Karayel Bekir (TUR) 37:31, 3. Ceylan Abdil (TUR) 37:55, 4. Stanislav Lambev (BUL) 38:03, 5. Anastasios Fragos (GRE) 38:27, 6. Alin Suteu Cosmin (ROM) 38:35, 7. Pantelis Savvopoulos (GRE) 38:59, 8. Michail Gelasakis (GRE) 39:00, 9. Sreten Ninkovic (SRB) 39:04, 10. Aleksandar Panovski (BUL) 39:08
Team: 1. Turkey 19 pts, 2. Greece 20, 3. Romania 24, 4. Bulgaria 29, 5. Serbia 32
U-23 Men (8 km):
1. Koyuncu Kemal (TUR) 24:44, 2. Dusan Markesevic (SRB) 24:52, 3. Ozturk Mugdat (TUR) 24:57, 4. Bilgic Fatih (TUR) 24:59, 5. Costel Ifrim (ROM) 25:32, 6. Panayiotis Kokkoros (GRE) 25:39, 7. Darko Zivanovic (SRB) 25:46, 8. Nenad Tosovic (BIH) 25:50, 9. Bekdogan Adem (TUR) 25:58, 10. Stefan Patru (ROM) 26:08
Team: 1. Turkey 8 pts, 2. Serbia 20, 3. Romania 32, 4. Greece 33, 5. Bulgaria 45
Junior Men (6 km):
1. Pak Hasan (TUR) 18:45, 2. Lucian Ches Ches (ROM) 18:50, 3. Ionut Ghita (ROM) 18:57, 4. Gonen Sedat (TUR) 19:01, 5. Alici Yusuf (TUR) 19:02, 6. Dimcho Micov (BUL) 19:04, 7. Alexander Ghinea (ROM) 19:11, 8. Kus Erkan (TUR) 19:28, 9. Sasa Radenkovic (SRB) 19:32, 10. Alin Florin (ROM) 19:34
Team: 1. Turkey 10 pts, 2. Romania 12, 3. Serbia 33, 4. Greece 49, 5. Bulgaria 53
Women (6 km):
1. Sonja Stolic (SRB) 20:32, 2. Cristina Casandra (ROM) 20:59, 3. Dobrinka Shalamanova (BUL) 21:06, 4. Aana Subotic (SER) 21:11, 5. Milka Mihailova (BUL) 21:21, 6. Maria Bordea Ana (ROM) 21:47, 7. Konstantina Kefala (GRE) 21:57, 8. Kalliopi Astropekaki (GRE) 22:00, 9. Deniz Dimaki (GRE) 22:07, 10. Ozcan Birgul (TUR) 22:18
Team: 1. Serbia 18 pts, 2. Bulgaria 19, 3. Romania 22, 4. Greece 24, 5. Turkey 42
U-23 Women (4 km):
1. Paula Todoran (ROM) 13:52, 2. Andreea David (ROM) 13:57, 3. Biljana Jovic (SRB) 14:01, 4. Mihaela Susa (ROM) 14:09, 5. Karakaya Dudu (TUR) 14:13, 6. Maria Dalaka (GRE) 14:24, 7. Kahraman Narin (TUR) 14:33, 8. Eleni Nikolopolou (GRE) 14:40, 9. Cansiz Demet (TUR) 14:59, 10. Vanya Netova (BUL) 15:14
Team: 1. Romania 7 pts, 2. Turkey 21, 3. Greece 26, 4. Bulgaria 35, 5. Serbia 36
Junior Women (3 km):
1. Cristina Frumuz (ROM) 10:35, 2. Oana Mircea (ROM) 10:39, 3. Bogdana Mimic (SRB) 10:40, 4. Ongun Hulia (TUR) 10:43, 5. Mingir Gulcan (TUR) 10:49, 6. Jelena Andjelkovic (SRB) 10:54, 7. Kaya Ozlem (TUR) 10:56, 8. Maria Tevekeleva (BUL) 10:57, 9. Marina Dimitrova (BUL) 10:59, 10. Petya Kertikova (BUL) 11:00
Team: 1. Romania 15 pts, 2. Turkey 16, 3. Serbia 20, 4. Bulgaria 27, 5. Bosnia and Herzegovina 51.
Marius Ionescu of Romania, the European Junior 10,000m champion in 2003, overpowered the challenge from Turkish duo Karavel Bekir and Ceylan Abdil to win the men’s title. Local favourite Stanislav Lambev, last year’s European Cup steeplechase silver medalist finished fourth.
Serbia’s Sonja Stolic, another European junior 3000m silver medallist in 1997, won the women’s 6k race from Cristina Casandra of Romania, the World junior bronze medalist in 5000m at Sydney 1996. Casandra, turned as a successful steeplechaser in recent years and was 7th in the last World championships in 2005. Stolic and her compatriot Aana Subotic aided the Serbian team to conquer the women’s team trophy.
Turkey annexed team titles in men, under-23 and junior men divisions while Romania took the u-23 and junior women.
Ram. Murali Krishnan for the IAAF
With assistance from Grzegorz Gladzikowski
Results:
Men (12 km):
1. Marius Ionescu (ROM) 37:27, 2. Karayel Bekir (TUR) 37:31, 3. Ceylan Abdil (TUR) 37:55, 4. Stanislav Lambev (BUL) 38:03, 5. Anastasios Fragos (GRE) 38:27, 6. Alin Suteu Cosmin (ROM) 38:35, 7. Pantelis Savvopoulos (GRE) 38:59, 8. Michail Gelasakis (GRE) 39:00, 9. Sreten Ninkovic (SRB) 39:04, 10. Aleksandar Panovski (BUL) 39:08
Team: 1. Turkey 19 pts, 2. Greece 20, 3. Romania 24, 4. Bulgaria 29, 5. Serbia 32
U-23 Men (8 km):
1. Koyuncu Kemal (TUR) 24:44, 2. Dusan Markesevic (SRB) 24:52, 3. Ozturk Mugdat (TUR) 24:57, 4. Bilgic Fatih (TUR) 24:59, 5. Costel Ifrim (ROM) 25:32, 6. Panayiotis Kokkoros (GRE) 25:39, 7. Darko Zivanovic (SRB) 25:46, 8. Nenad Tosovic (BIH) 25:50, 9. Bekdogan Adem (TUR) 25:58, 10. Stefan Patru (ROM) 26:08
Team: 1. Turkey 8 pts, 2. Serbia 20, 3. Romania 32, 4. Greece 33, 5. Bulgaria 45
Junior Men (6 km):
1. Pak Hasan (TUR) 18:45, 2. Lucian Ches Ches (ROM) 18:50, 3. Ionut Ghita (ROM) 18:57, 4. Gonen Sedat (TUR) 19:01, 5. Alici Yusuf (TUR) 19:02, 6. Dimcho Micov (BUL) 19:04, 7. Alexander Ghinea (ROM) 19:11, 8. Kus Erkan (TUR) 19:28, 9. Sasa Radenkovic (SRB) 19:32, 10. Alin Florin (ROM) 19:34
Team: 1. Turkey 10 pts, 2. Romania 12, 3. Serbia 33, 4. Greece 49, 5. Bulgaria 53
Women (6 km):
1. Sonja Stolic (SRB) 20:32, 2. Cristina Casandra (ROM) 20:59, 3. Dobrinka Shalamanova (BUL) 21:06, 4. Aana Subotic (SER) 21:11, 5. Milka Mihailova (BUL) 21:21, 6. Maria Bordea Ana (ROM) 21:47, 7. Konstantina Kefala (GRE) 21:57, 8. Kalliopi Astropekaki (GRE) 22:00, 9. Deniz Dimaki (GRE) 22:07, 10. Ozcan Birgul (TUR) 22:18
Team: 1. Serbia 18 pts, 2. Bulgaria 19, 3. Romania 22, 4. Greece 24, 5. Turkey 42
U-23 Women (4 km):
1. Paula Todoran (ROM) 13:52, 2. Andreea David (ROM) 13:57, 3. Biljana Jovic (SRB) 14:01, 4. Mihaela Susa (ROM) 14:09, 5. Karakaya Dudu (TUR) 14:13, 6. Maria Dalaka (GRE) 14:24, 7. Kahraman Narin (TUR) 14:33, 8. Eleni Nikolopolou (GRE) 14:40, 9. Cansiz Demet (TUR) 14:59, 10. Vanya Netova (BUL) 15:14
Team: 1. Romania 7 pts, 2. Turkey 21, 3. Greece 26, 4. Bulgaria 35, 5. Serbia 36
Junior Women (3 km):
1. Cristina Frumuz (ROM) 10:35, 2. Oana Mircea (ROM) 10:39, 3. Bogdana Mimic (SRB) 10:40, 4. Ongun Hulia (TUR) 10:43, 5. Mingir Gulcan (TUR) 10:49, 6. Jelena Andjelkovic (SRB) 10:54, 7. Kaya Ozlem (TUR) 10:56, 8. Maria Tevekeleva (BUL) 10:57, 9. Marina Dimitrova (BUL) 10:59, 10. Petya Kertikova (BUL) 11:00
Team: 1. Romania 15 pts, 2. Turkey 16, 3. Serbia 20, 4. Bulgaria 27, 5. Bosnia and Herzegovina 51.
