Eritrean Zersenay Tadesse running in the European Clubs XC champs (© Lorenzo Sampaolo)
Eritrean Zersenay Tadesse, the Olympic 10,000m bronze medallist took an easy win in the European Cross Country Club Championships held in the northern Italian town of Mantova, today. Tadesse contributed to the win of the strong Spanish team CA Adidas who ranked ahead of France’s Olympique Marseille and Italy’s Carabinieri Bologna.
On the women’s side, Portugal’s Fernanda Ribeiro, 1996 Olympic 10,000m champion and 2000 bronze medallist, took the honours in the individual race. However, Ribeiro’s victory was not enough for the team’s victory of her spanish clubmates of Valencia Terra Mar which finished second by just one point behind Maratona Club De Portugal.
Men
Tadesse ran conservatively in the first three laps and stayed in the pack led initially by the Italians Gabriele De Nard (Fiamme Gialle), Francesco Bennici (Carabinieri) and France’s Khalid El Aamri (Olympique de Marseille). With three laps to go Tadesse took the initiative and pulled clear from the rest the field, while his team comrades Spain’s Roberto Garcia (third), Josè Rios (eighth), and Julio Rey (eleventh) completed the Spanish team’s triumph.
“It was not very tough to win today,” said Tadesse. “Next week I will compete in the Spanish championships before returning to Eritrea to prepare for the World Cross Championships in France. My goal for this summer is to run under the 27 minutes barrier in the 10,000 metres.”
Women
Ribeiro, who set the pace from the beginning achieved a three-second win over her compatriot Analia Rosa (Maratona Club du Portugal) and the Kenyan Rita Jeptoo (Cover Sportiva Mapei Verbania). However, Jeptoo’s third place ahead of Russian Olga Yegorova, was not enough for her Italian club-mates of the Cover Verbania team to get on the podium who finished fourth just one point behind the Russian squad Olympique Orenburg.
“The course was very quick,” confirmed Ribeiro. “The race was a good test for my next Marathon race in Hamburg where my goal is to run in 2:25-2:26. After Hamburg I will decide whether I will compete in the World Championships in Helsinki.”
Diego Sampaolo for the IAAF
Results- European Champion Clubs Cross Country:
Men:
1 Zersenay Tadesse (Eritrea/CA Adidas) 28:34
2 Khalid El Aamri (France/ Olympique Marseille) 28 :45
3 Roberto Garcia (Spain/CA Adidas) 28:50
4 Manuel Damiano (Portugal/Maratona Clube Portugal) 28:51
5 Kamiel Maase (Holland/Leiden Atletiek) 28:51
6 Gabriele De Nard (Italy/Fiamme Gialle) 28:52
7 Ahmed Ezzobayry (France/Olimpique de Marseille) 28:52
8 Josè Rios Ortega (Spain/CA Adidas) 28:52
9 Denis Curzi (Italy/Carabinieri) 28:53
10 Abdelah Behar(France/Olympique de Marseille) 28 :53
Team:
1 CA Adidas (Spain) 23 points
2 Olympique de Marseille (France) 52 points
3 Carabinieri (Italy) 59 points
4 Maratona Clube De Portugal 68 points
5 Fiamme Gialle 71 points
Women:
1 Fernanda Ribeiro (Portugal/Valencia C.A. Terra) 16:05
2 Analia Rosa (Portugal/Maratona Club) 16:08
3 Rita Jeptoo (Kenya/Cover Sportiva Mapei Verbania) 16:11
4 Olga Yegorova (Russia/Olymp Orenburg) 16:13
5 Monica Rosa (Portugal/Maratona Club) 16:16
6 Yesenia Centeno (Spain/Valencia CA Terra) 16:21
7 Carla Sacramento (Portugal/Maratona Clube Portugal) 16:25
8 Sonja Bejarano (Spain/Valencia CA Terra) 16:27
9 Patrizia Tisi (Italy/Cover Sportiva Mapei Verbania) 16:27
10 Irina Safarova (Russia/Olymp Orenburg) 16:30
Team:
1 Maratona Clube de Portugal (Portogallo) 14 points
2 Valencia CA Terra Mar (Spain) 15 points
3 Olymp Orenburg (Russia) 29 points
4 Cover Sportiva Mapei Verbania (Italy) 30 points
5 SCO Sainte Marguerite (Francia) 38 points
