Leah Malot of Kenya (© Getty Images)
Most of the prerace attention for this Sunday’s BPN Oeiras international cross country (16 November) in Jamor (Oeiras), has been focussed upon the return of last year’s men's race winner and reigning double World champion Kenenisa Bekele of Ethiopia. Yet last year’s women’s winner Leah Malot of Kenya is also starting again and is bidding for a third consecutive title.
With a live TV broadcast, and a top international cast heading a field of over 600 runners, the Oeiras – IAAF Permit – cross country which takes place near the national stadium just twenty minutes from the centre of Lisbon, is the first major Cross country race of the new 2003/04 season. The weather is expected to be good with temperatures around 18C.
In the women’s event, Ireland’s Sonia O´Sullivan was originally expected to compete but now will not start. However, that still leaves last year’s first and second placers Leah Malot of Kenya and Portugual’s Helena Sampaio to fight again for the win.
Malot, 31, recently took the bronze medal in the African Games 10,000m, and this year has been in good form on the roads with second place in the Lisbon Half Marathon (69.47) back in March, and more recently a good win over the same distance (71:20) in Philadelphia, USA (21 September).
Sampaio, has recently enhanced her own international credentials with a major win at this year’s Amsterdam Marathon (19 October) in a personal best of 2:28:06, and so the 30 year-old is also obviously in fine form.
Over the 5km distance in 2002, Malot took an eight second win over her Portuguese rival and another close competition can be expected, as this year’s race also includes another top African runner, Merima Denboba of Ethiopia.
Denboba at 29 years of age the youngest of this elite triumvirate, had a very good double campaign at the World Cross Country Championships last March in Lausanne. She took the bronze medal in the Long race and then followed that up with sixth place at the shorter distance the next day. However, despite a season’s best of 31:47.53 for 10,000m on the track, such is the present strength of Ethiopian distance running she was not selected for the national squad for the Paris World Championships.
In the men’s race, as has already been well documented Kenenisa Bekele the defending champion is back in Portugal. Fully recovered from a slight injury sustained when winning the 5000m title last month in All-African Games, Bekele is the outstanding favourite to win on Sunday.
The Ethiopian maestro’s main opponents will be two other top Africans, John Korir and Solomon Bushendich of Kenya, and Giuliano Battocletti the Italian national champion, among others.
Bushendich is the reigning World Junior Cross Country bronze medallist but it is Korir, 21, who will perhaps offer the strongest threat to Bekele.
Korir was fourth in the recent World Half Marathon Championships in Vilamoura, Portugal in a personal best of 61:02, and last March finished in sixth place behind Bekele in the Long race at the Worlds in Lausanne.
As a final note, Sunday’s races will be run on the same course which hosted the European Cross Country Championships in 1997.
Paulo Costa and the IAAF
