Joseph Ebuya comes through; Labo Phalula surprises at cross country
Joseph Ebuya, the Kenyan runner maintained his role as an overwhelming favourite to bag victory at the 17th edition of Cross Internacional de Soria race on Sunday in the freezing temperature of a little above zero centigrade
and. By achieving the title, the World Cross Country champion continued marking his successes on the European Soil this season, which also include a runner-up position and two victories to his name so far.
On women’s side, Dina Lebo Phalula from South Africa, the girl who had ended at 22nd position at the last World Champions in Bydgoszcz, left the spectators stunned after claiming victory against Rosa Morato, the reigning
European Cross Country silver medallist.
An important aspect about the event was that its attention rested on the top European performers, keeping in mind the continental championships that are going to be held in Albufeira, Portugal after three weeks. In that context,
amid their impressive and admirable performance at Soria, Ayad Lamdassem from Spain, Jesus Espana along with Morato and Portugal’s Ana Dias emerged as the pre-favourites for the coming event.
In Soria’s race, the men’s 10,000m battle provided an amazing sight with all the important ingredients to keep the interest of the crowd. Participation of a reigning World Champion along with the array of top Spanish runners in
form to claim the podium had stirred the crowd.
As the race began, the initial stages observed Andrea Lalli, former European junior XC champion from Italy, taking a lead over the rest of the runners; however, before the race could enter into the battle for the second kilometre,
Ebuya decided to set up the pace. Just eight minutes after the gun, Tesfayohannes Mesfen and Kiflon Sium, the Eritrean pair along with Lamdassem and Kenya’s Mathew Kisorio, who had finished sixth at 2009’s World Cross Country Championships in Amman, closely
followed Ebuya.
As the race proceeded, runners started to pull out, and finally, after Mesfen and Sium lost the ground, the podium places seemed to be obvious before halfway for Ebuya, Kisorio and the Moroccan-born Lamdassem. However, Lamdassem
soon faded away when Kipsorio increased pace.
Taking advantage of the situation, Espana attempted to overcome a fall in the early stages of the race, which had left him at the last place right at the beginning. By making impressive strides quite consistently, the reigning
European 5000m silver medallist managed his position bit by bit to join the top-ten group.
As soon as the race entered into the second half, a thrilling battle between Ebuya and Kisorio was observed. Both looked determined to outdo each other after covering the distance of seven kilometres. The battle continued until
the last moment when Ebuya could hardly manage to push Kisorio one second behind. He named the title for covering the distance in twenty-nine minutes and fifty-seven seconds, while Kisorio claimed the second position on the podium in twenty-nine minutes and
fifty-eight seconds. Lamdassem managed to claim the third position by finishing a little ahead of the Eritrean pair while finishing for a difference of one minute and twenty-seven seconds from the winner, Espana ended up bagging sixth position in the event.
After winning the 17th edition of the race, Ebuya became the first athlete ever, who had won the Soria race twice.
On women’s side, Gatheru Hannah Wanjiru and Ana Dias, the pre-favourites for the race performed rather disappointingly, as Wanjiru could not even make it to the podium.
Ana Dias, who had been leading the race and was looking rather stronger at one point eventually, faced fierce competition from Phalula, who came from nowhere and instantly took charge of the race. This proved to be the point where
Bani and Wanjiru faded away while the competition between Phalula, Dias and Morato to claim the title began.
The battle between the trio became further severe when it was 1000m to go from the finishing line, where Phalula increased her pace further, which proved to be lethal for the rivalling runners. The race ended with Morato claiming
second while Dias standing for the third position.
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