All smiles - Leonor Carneiro defends her Amora cross title (© Marcelino Almeida)
Festus Langat and Leonor Carneiro cruised to wins at the Amora International Cross Country, one of the Portuguese EAA Permit Meetings.
For the Kenyan, one of the last elites to join the field, this was his second win in Amora, after his triumph in 2004 and a third place finish in 2005. Gaining form from week to week, this well known Kenyan runner, who was third in last week’s Torres Vedras International Cross Country race, took the first half of the course behind his countryman Abel Cheruyiot, and the Portuguese Luís Feiteira and Paulo Gomes, but in the final two of the course’s five laps took the lead and got a few metres ahead of the others to achieve his second win in Seixal, on a sunny day after four days of lots of rain and wind!
In second place, the Portuguese Luís Feiteira, a former 1500m international runner, produced an excellent race to achieve a place on the national team for the European Cross Country Championship, as his team colleague, Paulo Gomes, who get the third place in the course.
Just out of the podium finishes, Licinio Pimentel, a not much known Portuguese middle distance runner, got the better of five time European Cross Country Champion Paulo Guerra, who raced the final four laps after losing a shoe on the first lap.
“This was an easy race,” Langat said. “I was behind other opponents in the first half of the race, but I felt this was my day, and I did everything to get the lead. I’ve won this race, on another course in 2004, and last year, on this course, I was third because I wasn’t so good. Now I’ve trained for this and everything was better. Now I’ll try to get a spot on the national Kenyan team for the World Cross Country Championship.”
Another win for Leonor Carneiro
In the women’s race, Leonor Carneiro, last year’s winner, produced a great run again, taking the pace of Ana Dias, behind the Kenyan Magdeline Chemjor, for half the race. She eventually took control of the race en route to a comfortable 22 second victory ahead of the Kenyan. Ana Dias was third, 19 seconds ahead of Alina Ivanova, who in turn was two seconds ahead of another Portuguese, Cláudia Pereira.
Cristina Casandra, the former World record holder in the 3000m Steeplechase, was a distant 11th, behind five promising Portuguese athletes.
For the winner, the sunny day “Helped me to run faster, and I think I’m getting into better shape week after week.”
After her race in Oeiras two weeks ago – where, she said, “I was thick” – Carneiro said she raced in Amora Cross to secure a place on the national team. “This is my goal after being out last year.”
António Manuel Fernandes for IAAF
Leading Results:
Men (10 km)
1. Festus Langat, KEN 30:04
2. Luís Feiteira, POR 30:07
3. Paulo Gomes, POR 30:12
4. Licínio Pimentel, POR 30:14
5. Paulo Guerra, POR 30:34
6. Carlos Silva, POR 30:50
7. Abel Cheuyiot, KEN 30:50
8. Manuel Silva, POR 31:09
Women (5 km)
1. Leonor Carneiro, POR 16:50
2. Magdaline Chemjor, KEN 17:12
3. Ana Dias, POR 17:16
4. Alina Ivanova, RUS 17:35
5. Cláudia Pereira, POR 17:37
6. Sara Pinho, POR 17:38
7. Filomena Costa, POR 17:57
8. Sandra Teixeira, POR 18:06
