IAAF, Soria, Spain - The 16th ‘Cross Internacional de Soria’ - the second leg of the IAAF Cross Country Permit Series 2009/10- will take place on Sunday (29).The race’s home, the ‘Monte Valonsadero’ circuit, is a beautiful forest on the outskirts of Soria well-known for having been 1992 Olympic 1500m champion Fermín Cacho and 1997 and 1999 World Marathon gold medallist Abel Antón’s usual training place for many years.
Undoubtedly, the marquee athletes on Sunday will be Ethiopia’s Gebre- egziabher Gebremariam and Kenya’s Linet Masai. Both stars should continue their successful European tour following Gebremariam’s sprint wins in Atapuerca (8 Nov.) and Oeiras (21 Nov) while Masai also kicked off her XC season in style by capturing a solid win in Llodio last Sunday.
Trying to deny Gebremariam top spot will be Eritrea’s Kidane Tadese and his fellow Ethiopian Mesfin Hunegnaw, a top-ten from the last World Championships in Amman who more recently took second at the Quintanar permit (15 Nov) sandwiched between Spain’s Alemayehu Bezabeh and Eritrea’s Teklemariam Medhin.
As for Kidane, a respectable ninth at the Berlin Worlds over 10,000m just a place ahead of Gebremariam, he recorded a third spot in Llodio where Hunegnaw had to settle for seventh while Issak Sibhatu, also of Eritrea, will also look for a top-five performance on Sunday.
Test for powerful Spanish squad
But the event also acts nationally as the key selection race – alongside last weekend’s Llodio permit - for the Spanish team for the European Cross Country Championships in Dublin (13 December) where the Spaniards will be looking for a hat trick of team gold medals following their top spots accomplished last year in Brussels and the previous season (2007) on the home soil of Toro.
Despite the absences of the three-time European Cross Country silver medallist Juan Carlos De la Ossa, who underwent surgery last month and will miss the entire winter season, and Chema Martínez – focused on his Marathon career after being the leading European at the last World Championships in Berlin - the ‘red-men’ should still be regarded as favourites for the gold medal in Dublin.
Apart from Bezabeh, - who will skip Sunday’s cross since he has planned a build-up for Dublin in his native Ethiopia - the local hopes on Sunday will rest on Ayad Lamdassem as the Moroccan-born 10,000m specialist (27:45.58 PB) came seventh in Atapuerca to improve to fifth in Llodio. The 28-year-old was the top Spaniard at the last Europeans in fourth.
Other local athletes on the Dublin ticket quest include Francisco Javier López, and Manuel Penas (a 27:58.76 10,000m performer) who finished ninth and tenth in Llodio just ahead Uganda’s Boniface Kiprop; the former World Junior 10,000m record holder, also in contention in Soria, is making a return after being forced to miss the 2009 outdoor season due to a groin injury.
3000m European indoors 4th placed Sergio Sánchez, top steeplechaser Eliseo Martín and reigning European 5000m champion Jesús España are also in the line-up.
Masai unchallenged?
In the women’s section Kenya’s Linet Masai appears as the only and overwhelming favourite. The in-form reigning World 10,000m champion is fresh from a more-than convincing victory last Sunday in Llodio where she built a huge margin over the rest of the quality field.
Masai, who is also the current World Cross Country silver medallist from Amman, became a heroine for the Kenyan fans last summer when she took the World 10,000m title back to Kenya after a 12-year Ethiopian stranglehold in the event since Sally Barsosio managed the win in Athens 1997.
Still 19, Masai should not find opposition from Portugal’s Ana Dias; the experienced 35-year-old, a 16th placed at the Berlin World Championships also over 10,000m, will be making her cross country season this campaign after a 2h30:12 Marathon effort five weeks ago in Venice while the Spanish contingent will be headed by the 30-year-old steeplechaser Rosa Morató, fresh from a fourth place in Llodio and a creditable fifth at last year’s Europeans in Brussels.
Among the illustrious winners in previous years in Soria are: Ethiopia’s 2000 Olympic 5000m champion Million Wolde (1997), Kenya’s 2001 World 10,000m champion Charles Kamathi (2002), his compatriot Sally Barsosio (1994) who took the 10,000m gold medal at the 1997 Worlds in Athens, and Eritrea’s 2007 World Cross Country champion – and current bronze medallist - Zersenay Tadese who took top honours in 2004.
Weather forecasters predict a cloudy day on Sunday with almost 100% of rain likelihood and a temperature range between 6ºC and 8ºC by the time of the event.
Emeterio Valiente for the IAAF
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