Sergiy Lebid wins his fifth European Cross Country title (© AFP/Getty Images)
Ukraine’s fivetime European Cross Country champion Sergiy Lebid starts as a strong favourite for the 49th edition of the Campaccio Cross Country in San Giorgio su Legnano, Italy, on Sunday (13 Feb) a meeting which this year incorporates the Italian Club Cross Country Championships.
Lebid, the winner at the Campaccio in 2003, is set to continue his recent winning streak after recent victories in two spanish cross country races in San Sebastian (30 January) and Caceres (6 January).
Lebid’s Italian team Cover Sportiva Mapei Verbania will line-up a strong multi-national squad which also boasts Frenchman Driss Maazouzi and Qatar’s El Hassan Lasshini (PB 13:04.32 in the 5000 metres). Maazouzi, a former World Indoor champion made a successful come-back to form last December with his third place behind Lebid and the Spaniard De La Ossa in the European Cross Country Championships.
Italian fans will have the chance to cheer their Olympic marathon hero Stefano Baldini. With his good third place at last Sunday’s Cinque Mulini Baldini proved that he is also very competive on the cross country surface where he began his career before turning to marathon running. Baldini is determined to continue his successful post-Olympic campaign in San Giorgio su Legnano in his last competitive test before the Lisbon Half Marathon race on 13 March, and the London Marathon on 17 April where he will face a ‘who’s who’ of long distance running.
The Campaccio is also an important race for the italian cross country specialists like Gabriele De Nard, Umberto Pusterla, Maurizio Leone and Giuliano Battocletti who clinched a well-deserved silver medal in the team ranking at the 2004 European Cross Country Championships. A good performance in San Giorgio su Legnano and at the Italian Individual Championships in Vallagarina on 27 February may ensure them a spot in the national team for the IAAF World Championships in France this March.
WOMEN
As in the men’s race the Cover Mapei Team is the outstanding favourite to win its second national team women’s title in a row.
The stars of the Verbania’s team are the 2003 European Cross Country bronze medallist Aniko Kalovics from Hungary, who finished second in last Sunday’s Cinque Mulini behind the World champion Benita Johnson, the kenyan Rita Jeptoo, France's Latifa Essarokh, and the best Italian cross country specialist Patrizia Tisi (ninth in the 2003 European XC Champs).
This year the Campaccio event is scheduled on Sunday 13 February, one month later than the traditional date at the beginning of January. The Campaccio 2005 is of special significance to the local organizers of the Unione Sportiva Sangiorgese because it is a dress rehearsal for the 2006 European Cross Country Championships, which San Giorgio su Legnano will host on 10 December that year.
Diego Sampaolo for the IAAF
