Dorcus Inzikuru leads with Salome Semotwo (105) in the Turin 10km (© c)
Uganda’s World 3000m Steeplechase champion Dorcus Inzikuru was the women’s race winner of (3 Dec) Sunday’s Tutta Dritta 10km, which was staged by the Turin Marathon organisation. Under a cloudy sky, a total of 3150 runners took part.
Inzikuru, 24, who is the Area record holder for the Steeplechase (9:15.04), was the outstanding pre-race favourite and she did not disappoint, winning in 33:04’, about thirty seconds behind the time she had expected. The time was “caused by the slower than required speed of the pacemaker in the first five kilometres,” said the Ugandan winner.
Inzikuru, the 2006 Commonweath champion, has been battling with a series of injuries and illnesses this year, though she recently showed signs of a return to fitness and top form when dominating the IAAF XC permit meeting in Oeiras, Portugal (12 Nov) over 5km.
Italian marathon runner Giovanna Volpato, 31, was satisfied with her second place, crossing in 33:36. The Italian, who was the eighth place finisher in the marathon at the European Championships in Gothenburg, has a personal best of 2:28:59 from finishing second in Treviso on 12 March. She is currently preparing for a spring marathon next year.
Third place was taken by a Kenyan athlete, Salome Semotwo, who closed out in 34:11.
In the men's race, the win went to the Kenyan Philip Sanga with a time of 29:16, and he was followed home by fellow Kenyan Fred Kosgei (29:23), and by the Morocco athlete Jamel Chatbi (29:26).
The three ran very close at a moderate pace until the eighth kilometre, and at that point Sanga put in a spurt and left the two followers behind.
Fourth and fifth places were taken by Italians, respectively Francesco Bona, who closed in 29:58, and Marco Mazza, who arrived at the finish line in 30:05.
Alessandra Ramella Pairin – Turin Marathon – for the IAAF
