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News28 Feb 1998


Maranga confirms domination, Tergat reverses Championship defeat

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Maranga confirms domination, Tergat reverses Championship defeat
Jaqueline Maranga was victorious yet again in the penultimate stage of the IAAF World Cross Challenge in Mombasa Saturday as she crossed the line fully 16 seconds ahead of Sally Barsosio in the sweltering heat of Mombasa. There seems little doubt of a Maranga victory in the forthcoming World Cross Country Championships in Marrakech on 21-22 March if she manages to retain her current form. Fellow Kenyan Susan Chepkemei, who currently leads the IAAF World Cross Challenge standings, trailed in over a minute behind Maranga in eighth place.
Disappointingly, the race was non-scoring due to a near total dearth of runners from other countries. The only non-Kenyan in the race was Finland's Annemari Sandell, who finished the race in 17th place two minutes behind the leaders. 21-year old Sandell is an afficionado of Kenya, where she lives and trains for a large part of the year.

Paul Tergat reversed the roles in the men's race, after a narrow loss to Paul Koech in the Kenyan National Championships just a week ago. Once again there was limited international participation and no non-African nation was represented in this edition of the World Cross Challenge. Tergat crossed the line a convincing 7 seconds ahead of Koech, confirming that he is still capable of repeating the success he has known in the last three World Championships. Thomas Nyariki came in third today and confirmed his leading position in the men's standings: he currently has 85 points - 16 more than Paul Koech, with one race to go.

The final race of the World Cross Challenge before the World Championships will take place in Italy on 8 March with the Cinque Mulini race in San Vittore Olona. Full results and a report will be available on this web site shortly after the close of play.
swj

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