Kamathi and Ayanu unstoppable in Elgoibar

Kenya’s Charles Kamathi clinched a thrilling sprint victory at the “63nd Cross Internacional Juan Muguerza” cross country meeting held today. The 2001 World 10,000m champion beat Tanzania’s reigning World Half Marathon champion Fabiano Joseph in the last 200m, while Ethiopia’s Workitu Ayanu was a surprise victor in the women’s race.

As usual the pre-race atmosphere in Elgoibar was fantastic. Held for the first time in 1943 this competition has witnessed epic wins by Ethiopia’s Mamo Wolde on four occasions in the 1960’s and victories for Kenenisa Bekele and Kenya’s John Ngugi more recently. As a former victor, Britain’s Eamonn Martin confessed last year: “This is the most passionate crowd I have ever seen. I won here in 1991 and was lucky to return in 2005 as Britain’s team manager.”

Men – Kamathi out-sprints Joseph

After a brisk first 400m on the track covered in 1:05 by Ethiopia’s Deriba Mergia, it was Joseph who took command of the leading group which only included Kamathi, Mergia and the local hero Juan Carlos de la Ossa with the clock reading nine minutes.

Joseph looked back several times to Kamathi and requested the 27-year-old Kenyan to make the pace. Kamathi accepted but once and again Joseph had to move to the front as Kamathi’s pace was not of his liking. The race became a two-men tussle just before halfway when the 22-year-old Mergia lost ground from the two leaders.

There were no major changes in the remaining two laps and the forecast of the knowledgeable crowd “same story again, Joseph will be beaten in the closing stages” became truth when Kamathi overtook Joseph (who had fallen over with 500m left but soon regained his balance) with ease to snatch the win in 32:23 and a three-second advantage over the Tanzanian. Joseph was competing for the third Sunday in a row on Spanish soil (2nd Fuensalida, 8 Jan, 5th in Seville last Sunday and again runner-up here in Elgóibar).

Deriba Mergia of Ethiopia, in a very distant (29 seconds) third place held off the challenge of De la Ossa who approached the Ethiopian dangerously in the final kilometre, while France’s Khalid Zoubaa completed the top-five.

“OK, I defeated Joseph only seven days ago in Seville but today’s was a different race and anything might have happened.” Both Kamathi and Joseph had arrived from Seville last Sunday and had spent the whole week together in Elgoibar.  Asked about their stay they said smiling: “People, weather, food… everything is OK here.”

About their future races Kamathi confirmed “I now return home to prepare the Kenyan trials for the IAAF World Cross Country Championships in Fukuoka (Japan) in early April. I’ll miss the Commonwealth Games in March as I prefer to focus in the cross country season.  For the summer season the 10,000m are still my priority”. As for Joseph he confirmed his entry for the Commonwealth Games over 10,000m.

Women – Ayanu betters Seville podium!

Another chapter was written in the successful Ethiopian story on this year’s European cross country circuit but this time the subject of the big news came from the 18-year-old Workitu Ayanu.  With the first three athletes from the IAAF permit race in Seville last Sunday in contention (B.Bekele, M. Melkamu and D. Alemu) here in Elgoibar, Ayanu’s victory can reasonably be regarded as a big upset.

Much taller (1.70m) than the average Ethiopian woman, Ayanu is still eligible for the junior race at the next Worlds in Fukuoka but “maybe I’ll contest the senior race, I have to think about”. Ayanu finished sixth last year.

The first surprise came when Bezunesh Bekele dropped from the vanguard hardly five minutes into the race. She just could not live with the pace set by Hungary’s Aniko Kalovics and her Ethiopian compatriots Derbe Alemu, Meselech Melkamu and Workitu Ayanu. But the Hungarian lost her winning chances with 13 minutes on the clock when Ayanu and Melkamu accelerated away from Alemu and herself building a handsome margin of 100m.

In the final lap the leading duo took turns at the front and the long-legged Ayanu stamped her authority, unleashing a devastating kick in the home-straight to claim a superb victory in 22:19 from her more heralded compatriot, who was given 22:22. Kalovics ran an excellent final 2000m metres to clinch third in 22:40 and avoid an 1-2-3 for Ethiopia. She finished six seconds ahead of Bekele who also passed a fading Alemu.

Results

Men (10.53 km course)
1. Charles Kamathi (Ken) 32:23
2. Fabiano Joseph (Tan) 32:26
3. Deriba Mergia (Eth) 32:54
4. Juan Carlos de la Ossa (Esp) 32:58
5. Khalid Zoubaa (Fra) 33:10
6. Fernando Silva (Por) 33:23
7. Meter Desmet (Bel) 33:57
8. Pedro Nimo (Esp) 34:03
9. Mohamed Amyn (Mor) 34:11
10. Kamel Ziani (Esp) 34:16

 Women(6.47km course)
1. Workitu Ayanu (Eth) 22:19
2. Meselech Melkamu (Eth) 22:22
3. Aniko Kalovics (Hun) 22:40
4. Bezunesh Bekele (Eth) 22:46
5. Derbe Alemu (Eth) 22:53
6. Bouchra Chaabi (Mor) 23:17
7. Helena Sampaio (Por) 23:19
8. Alexandra Aguilar (Esp) 23:25
9. Diana Martín (Esp) 23:39
10. Claudia Pereira (Por) 23:46