Uganda’s Dorcus Inzikuru running in Modena (© Lorenzo Sampaolo)
Modena, ItalyUganda’s Dorcus Inzikuru, the reigning World champion for the women’s 3000m Steeplechase, showed yesterday (11) that she is returning to her best form with a convincing triumph in the short course race at the Italian Cross Country Club Championships after a 2006 season ruined by injuries and illness.
Other major titles in Modena went to Wilfred Taragon from Kenya in the men’s 10km long course race, Nadja Ejjafini from Bahrain in the 6km women’s long course race and Italian Cosimo Caliandro in the men’s 4km short course competition.
WOMEN - Inzikuru, who runs for the Italian club Camelot Milano, upped the pace in the final lap pulling away from Italian middle distance hope Silvia Weissteiner and Kenyan Helah Kiprop. The star from Uganda, who won her national cross country title last week, crossed the finish-line in 12:58 in the 4km short course race beating Weissteiner by six seconds.
“I feel better after a difficult 2006 season. I suffered from a leg injury. My health is improving. Now I will return to Uganda to prepare the World Championships in Mombasa,” said a smiling Inzikuru.
In the longer 6km race, Nadja Ejjafini from Bahrain, who was born in Morocco but lives in the Italian town of Biella, took a surprising win over Hungarian Aniko Kalovics.
In the first stage of the race Ejjafini took the early lead with Kalovics, Tanzania’s Zakia Mrisho and Italians Fatna Maraoui and Renate Rungger. In the penultimate lap Ejjafini, fourth in the 5000 metres at last December’s Asian Games in Doha, pushed the pace obtaining a comfortable lead over Kalovics. The Hungarian, who was not in her best racing as she has started her preparation for the Turin Marathon, could not respond to Ejjafini who took the honours covering the 6 km distance in 19:08.
“I did not expect to beat Kalovics. It’s the first time I could defeat her. I am planning to run the Roma-Ostia Half Marathon, the Cross Country Asian Championships in Jordania and the World Championships in Mombasa,” said Ejjafini.
MEN - Wilfred Taragon, a world-class half marathon specialist with a PB of 60:46 over this distance set in Berlin and a fifth place in the World Road Running Championships in Debrecen last October, ran at a fierce pace from the beginning taking the lead after one lap and went on to take an undisputed win in 27:26.
In the chasing group the battle for the runner-up place between italians Daniele Caimmi and Gabriele De Nard and kenyan John Kipsiele Rotich hotted up. Rotich finished second two seconds ahead of marathon specialist Daniele Caimmi who is running cross country in the build-up to next spring’s Turin Marathon (15 April). Caimmi, Gabriele De Nard (sixth) and Luciano Di Pardo (eleventh) contributed to the team win of the Fiamme Gialle, the leading military club in Italy which finished second last week in the European Club Cross Country Championships in Istanbul.
“It was a very easy win today. I am preparing the Berlin Half Marathon next spring. There I want to dip under 60 minutes,” said Taragon.
Reigning Olympic and European Marathon champion Stefano Baldini was forced to pull out of the race due to a bout of flu.
In the men’s short course race, former European junior 1500m champion Cosimo Caliandro confirmed his recent good form by taking the win just one week after his good 7:48.88 in the 3000 metres in the Stuttgart Sparkassen Indoor meeting.
Kenyan Isaac Tanui Kiprotich opened up a gap over Caliandro in the final lap, but the Italian responded by launching a devastating kick to catch-up and in the final straight edged out Tanui by three seconds. New European junior champion Andrea Lalli, who competes in his first year as a senior, finished fourth behind marathon specialist Ruggero Pertile.
“I am in very good form. I am planning to run the 3000 metres in Stockolm to improve my PB before the European Indoor Championships in Birmingham”, said Caliandro.
Diego Sampaolo for the IAAF
Results
Men long course race (10 km):
1 Wilfred Taragon (Kenya) 27:26
2 John Kipsiele Rotich (Kenya) 27:58
3 Daniele Caimmi (Italy) 28:00
4 Vasyl Matvichuk (Ukraine) 28:04
5 Abdelkebir Lamachi (Morocco) 28:06
6 Gabriele De Nard (Italy) 28:10
Women long course race (6 km):
1 Nadia Ejjafini (Barhein) 19:08
2 Aniko Kalovics (Hungary) 19:30
3 Fatna Maraoui (Italy) 19:35
4 Zakia Mrisho (Tanzania) 19:48
5 Vincenza Sicari (Italy) 19:53
6 Renate Rungger (Italy) 19:54
Men short course race (4 km):
1 Cosimo Caliandro (Italy) 11:14
2 Isaac Tanui Kiprotich (Kenya) 11:17
3 Ruggero Pertile (Italy) 11:27
4 Andrea Lalli (Italy) 11:30
5 Lorenzo Perrone (Italy) 11:31
Women short course race (4 km):
1 Dorcus Inzikuru (Uganda) 12:58
2 Silvia Weissteiner (Italy) 13:04
3 Helah Kiprop (Kenya) 13:09
4 Agnes Tschutschenthaler (Italy) 13:15
5 Rosanna Martin (Italy) 13:21
