News17 Dec 2006


Dinkesa shines in Venta de Baños

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Ethiopia’s Abebe Dinkesa wins in Venta de Baños (© Manuel Brágimo)

Ethiopia’s Abebe Dinkesa and Wude Ayalew Yimer were the respectively the men’s and women’s victors in the ‘27th Cross Internacional de Venta de Baños' held today on quite a cold morning which hardly reached 1ºC. While Dinkesa captured a hard win being pushed until the late stages by Kenya’s Hosea Macharinyang, Yimer’ success was overwhelming with a handsome margin of 26 seconds over her closest rival.

 MEN – Dinkesa gets the better of Macharinyang

The race opened at a comfortable pace set by four Spaniards led by European 10,000m silver medallist Chema Martínez while the hot favourites such as Dinkesa, Macharinyang and Eritrea’s Ali Abdallah remained cautiously in the middle of the leading group. The sign of the relatively slow pace was that by the third kilometre no less than twenty athletes still stayed at the front.

The key move came with exactly twenty minutes on the clock when Dinkesa changed the pace dramatically and only the 20-year-old Kenyan Macharinyang could follow his footsteps; this duo soon opened a margin of 50m over their closest pursuers, Spain’s Juan Carlos de la Ossa, Morocco’s Ayad Landassem, Ethiopia’s Alemayehu Bezabeh and Abdallah.

Dinkesa’s fourth 2.1km lap (6:03) was much brisker than the previous covered in 6:23, 6:28 and 6:19 and to the delight of the crowd the last lap was unforgettable as the Ethiopian tried to break away just after the bell and built a 10m gap for a few seconds before Macharinyang proved why he took 6th in Fukuoka at the 2006 World Cross Country Championships and managed to get back in touch again. The Kenyan then took the lead but the tempo of the race slowed down a bit until Dinkesa found an additional gear with 400m to go and left Macharinyang at last. The 22-year-old cruised to his first win for almost one year clocking 31:30 (6:06 for the last lap), while the Kenyan was timed 31:32.

The fight for the remaining podium spot was won by De la Ossa thanks to his invaluable experience – he still feels some discomfort on his leg – coming home some 23 seconds adrift Dinkesa but five seconds clear of Morocco’s Spain-based Ayad Landassem, himself two seconds ahead of Abdallah. The 20-year-old Ethiopian Alemayehu Bezabeh, who also trains in Spain (Ávila), completed a classy top-six.

Reportedly Dinkesa has suffered from typhoid fever this year and that’s the reason why his performances in 2006 have been well-below expectation (71st  and 39th (long and short) at the 2006 World Cross and below-par season’s bests of 13:13.40 and 28:05.07 in the 5000 and 10,000m respectively on the track.

“This victory is extremely important for me as my recovery from illness has been anything but easy. Fortunately my runner-up place in Nijmegen (19 November over 15km clocking 42:43 behind Kenya’s Micah Kogo) and today’s win prove I’m back again to the elite. I now return to Ethiopia because my only focus in the next couple of months is the Ethiopian trials for the World Cross in Mombasa.”
 

WOMEN – No challenge for Yimer

The question about who would be the eventual victor of the women’s race only took five minutes to be answer, for it was then that Ethiopia’s Wude Ayalew Yimer started to rule and no-one dared to remain in close attendance to the pace she set.

Before halfway the three places on the podium seemed to be decided as Kenya’s Alice Chelangat – 10th at the long race at the 2006 World Cross – and the surprise Portuguese Leonor Carneiro – 11th last Sunday at the European XC – fought hard for the second position way back Yimer.

Yimer ran in majestic style crossing the finish in 21:21 to record her widest winning margin (26 seconds) of her fourth victories so far this cross country season - all of them on Spanish soil.

The 28-year-old Carneiro confirmed her great shape by defeating Chelangat by four seconds, while Monica Rosa, also of Portugal, secured fourth place another two seconds behind the Kenyan. It was Rosa who provided Portugal with the vital fourth place points to help her country take the team gold medal at the European XC ahead of Britain.

“I can’t say that my win was complicated,” said a successful Yimer, who also confirmed her appearance next 21 January at the IAAF Cross Country permit race in Seville.

Emeterio Valiante for the IAAF


Results

Men (10.6km)
1. Abebe Dinkesa (Eth) 31:30
2. Hosea Macharinyang (Ken) 31:32
3. Juan Carlos de la Ossa (Esp) 31:53
4. Ayad Landassem (Mor) 31:58
5. Ali Abdallah (Eri) 32:00
6. Alemayehu Bezabeh (Eth) 32:01
7. Chema Martínez (Esp) 32:05
8. Khalid Zoubaa (Fra) 32:10
9. Tesfayohannes Mesfen (Eri) 32:11
10. Samuel Tsegay (Eri) 32:16

Women (6.4km)
1. Wude  Ayalew Yimer (Eth) 21:21
2. Leonor Carneiro (Por) 21:47
3. Alice Chelangat (Ken) 21:51
4. Monica Rosa (Por) 21:53
5. Alesandra Aguilar (Esp) 22:06
6. Simret Sultan (Eri) 22:10
7. Ana Dias (Por) 22:19
8. Silvia Montané (Esp) 22:34
9. Marta Domínguez (Esp) 22:39
10. María Abel (Esp) 22:41

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