With victories in five of the six races contested, Brazil reigned supreme at the 28^th edition of the South American Cross Country Championships - Campeonato Sudamericano de Cross Country - which was held in the Argentine city of Concordia on Sunday (24).

The circuit, situated at the Ayui Hotel Complex, near the Salto Grande Dam on the Uruguay River, was a tough 2km loop made even more challenging by rainstorms on morning of the races.

Brazilian athletes dominated the 12km senior men's race as 23-year-old Gilmar Silvestre Lopes took his first continental title, winning by three seconds from his compatriot Valério de Souza Fabiano; 11 seconds further back was the 2011 Pan American Games 1500m champion Leandro Prates Oliveira.

Lopes had also won the Brazilian title in Rio Claro on 3 February.

There was also a first South American title for the 38 year-old Cruz Nonata da Silva, who won the 8km female race in 30:25. Da Silva won comfortably and beat Argentina’s Nadia Rodriguez by 25 seconds.

Brazil's Thiago Andre and Jessica Soares won the junior races. Andre triumphed over 8km event in 27:09, winning by an emphatic 18 seconds, while Soares took the 6km race in 23:26.

All the individual winners, and the winning teams of senior and junior races, are expected to represent South American interests at the 2013 IAAF World Cross Country Championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland, on 24 March.

In the youth catagories, Brazil's Weverton Fedelis won the boy's gold medal over 4km in 13:26 while Uruguay's Aldana Sabatel broke Brazil's stranglehold on the individual titles when she won the girls’ gold medal over 3km in 11:20.

Athletes from seven nations - Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay - competed at the 2013 South American Cross Country Championships.

Eduardo Biscayart for the IAAF

Leading results

Senior men's 12km
1. Gilmar Silvestre Lopes (BRA) 39:58
2. Valério de Souza Fabiano (BRA) 40:01
3. Leandro Prates Oliveira (BRA) 40:12
Teams: 1 BRA, 2 URU, 3 ARG.

Junior men's 8km
1. Thiago Andre (BRA) 27:09
2. Adelio dos Santos (BRA) 27:27
3. Victor Alves da Silva (BRA) 27:32
Teams: 1 BRA, 2 ARG, 3 URU.

Boys 4km
1. Weverton Fidelis (BRA) 13:26
2. Felipe Rocha e Pinto (BRA) 13:42
3. Mateus Santos de Jesus (BRA) 13:45
Team: 1 BRA, 2 ARG, 3 URU.

Senior women’s 8km
1. Cruz Nonata da Silva (BRA) 30:25
2. Nadia Rodriguez (ARG) 30:50
3 Michele Cristina das Chagas (BRA) 31:04
Teams: 1 BRA, 2 ARG, 3 URU.

Junior women’s 6km
1. Jessica Soares (BRA) 23:26
2. Belen Cassetta (ARG) 23:51
3. Hetaira Palacios (PER) 23:58
Teams: 1 BRA, 2 ARG, 3 URU.

Girls 3km
1. Aldana Sabatel (URU) 11:20
2. Sheyla Eulogio (PER) 11:26
3. Carolina Lozano (ARG) 11:32
Teams: 1 ARG, 2 URU.

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