Abderrahim Goumri of Morocco en route to victory at the Bolzano BoClassic 10km (© Lorenzo Sampaolo)
A narrow win by Morocco’s Abderrahim Goumri over Ethiopian surprise Betona Warge Salhe and a convincing gun-to-tape victory by Hungarian front runner Aniko Kalovics highlighted the 32nd edition of the Boclassic Silvesterlauf race in Bolzano in the northern Italian region of Südtirol held on a chilly afternoon (31 Dec).
The high-quality line-up of the Bolzano race featured reigning Olympic and European champion Stefano Baldini from Italy, who competed in the Boclassic for the ninth time in his career. The Italian star, who set The Italian marathon record in London (2:07:22) and won his second European title in Gothenburg last August, capped his great 2006 season with a fifth place in the 10 km men’s race in 28:43, nine seconds behind winner Goumri.
Dutchman Kamel Maase and Italian Giovanni Gualdi took the early lead. The lead group, formed by a large pack including all the favourites, ran at a slow pace (split times for the first two laps 3:40 and 3:35) over the initial stages. The race really began to heat up in the fourth lap when the two Ethiopians, Betona Warge Salhe and Awash Fikadu Habtamu (a very young runner born in 1988 who finished sixth in the junior race at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships in Fukuoka last March), launched their attack to claim the Mila-Trophy 500 euro prize awarded to the first runner to cross the 5 km halfway mark. The sprint was an Ethiopian affair between Betona and Awash who pushed hard, running the fourth lap in 3:21. The 500 euro prize went to Betona Warge Salhe who reached the 5 km mark in 14:28.
But soon Goumri was able to close the gap on the Ethiopian runners. The Moroccan, who ran a 5000 metres career best of 12:50.25 in Brussels in 2005, took the lead with Awash. They were followed by Kenyan Wilfred Taragon, Betona Warge Salhe, Baldini and 2006 European cross country silver medallist Fernando Silva from Portugal. Goumri slightly slowed down in the sixth lap (3:39) enabling the chasing group to narrow the gap. Paul Kosgei from Kenya, the second fastest runner in history in the Half-Marathon after his 59:07 run this year in Berlin, was dropped and eventually finished a distant seventh.
Baldini was the only European to remain in the leading pack when 22-year-old Betona upped the pace with two laps to go.
In the final lap Betona Warge Salhe pushed hard in the front and it seemed that he was going to claim the second consecutive victory for Ethiopia in Bolzano after last year’s win by Abebe Dinkesa. But Goumri responded very quickly to the young Ethiopian’s attack and prevailed in a dramatic finish sprint in Piazza Walther in 28:34 with Betona Warge clocking the same time to finish runner-up.
“I am very happy to win in my third race in Bolzano,” Goumri said. “Last year I won the halfway sprint but I finished fourth at the end. This year I came here to win the race. I hope this victory will give me motivation for next year.”
Baldini, who received a very warm reception and support from spectators attending the famous Italian race, was delighted with his end-of-the year fifth place showing.
“I ran three Marathons in 2006, so I cannot be in my best form at the end of December,” Baldini said. “It was one of the best seasons of my career. Today I ran one of my fastest times in Bolzano and for this reason I am very happy. I hope 2007 will be so successful as 2006. Now I will go to Namibia on 6 January for the first of two training stints. Then I will compete in the Italian Cross Country Club Championships in Modena on 11 February before a second period in Namibia in March.”
Kalovics ends decade-long African reign
In the women’s race Aniko Kalovics broke a 12-year African winning streak in Bolzano by taking victory in impressive style, clocking 15:44. The Hungarian star, who finished fourth in this year’s European Cross Country Championships in San Giorgio su Legnano, set the second fastest time in the history of the race, ten seconds slower than German Kathrin Wessel’s course record of 15:34 set back in 1991.
Kalovics took to the front from the outset, killing off the opposition’s hopes to continue African dominance in Bolzano.
Kalovics slightly slowed her furious pace in the final stages of the race but her win was never under threat. For the Hungarian star 2006 marked her debut over the Marathon distance which she covered in a national record of 2:26:44 in Carpi last autumn.
“The Marathon is my future,” Kalovics said. “I will run four cross country races in Spain in January to prepare for my next marathon in Turin on 15 April. I planned to run in the front before the race because I knew I was in very good shape.”
In the battle for second, Kenyan Prisca Jepleting Ngetich, who ran the fifth fastest time in the world this year in the 5000 metres with 14:35.30 in the Oslo Golden League meeting, led the chase group, closely followed by her compatriots Jeruto Kiptum (third in the 3000 steeplechase in the 2005 World Championships in Helsinki) and Irene Kwambai.
In the third group Italian middle distance hope Silvia Weissteiner, who comes from the Südtirol town of Vipiteno, thrilled her local fans with a very solid performance. Weissteiner closed the gap on Kwambai and took a well-deserved third place behind Jepleting, capping a good season in which she finished second in the 10,000 metres European Challenge in Antalya, Turkey, and improved her PBs in the 3000, 5000 and 10,000 metres.
“I knew I was in good form,” said Weissteiner. “I am very happy because I ran my course record in Bolzano. In 2007 I will run the European Indoor Championships in Birmingham and the 10,000 metres European Challenge in Ferrara.”
Diego Sampaolo for the IAAF
Results:
Men (10 km):
1. Abderrahim Goumri (Morocco) 28:34
2. Betona Warge Salhe (Ethiopia) 28:34
3. Awash Warge Habtamu (Ethiopia) 28:35
4. Wilfred Taragon (Kenya) 28:39
5. Stefano Baldini (Italy) 28:43
6. Fernando Silva (Portugal) 28:55
7. Paul Kosgei (Kenya) 28:59
8. Kamel Maase (Netherlands) 29:00
9. Marco Mazza (Italy) 29:04
10. Cosimo Caliandro (Italy) 29:16
Women (5 km):
1. Aniko Kalovics (Hungary) 15:44
2. Prisca Ngetich Jepleting (Kenya) 15:52
3. Silvia Weissteiner (Italy) 16:03
4. Irene Kwambai (Kenya) 16:09
5. Agnes Tsscurtschenthaler (Italy) 16:13
6. Sonja Roman (Slovenia) 16:19
7. Renate Rungger (Italy) 16:23
8. Valentina Belotti (Italy) 16:27
9. Jeruto Kiptum (Kenya) 16:58
10. Marzena Michalska (Italy) 17:01
