Weldemarian A. Teklay of Eritrea winning the WMRA International race relay, in Arco di Trento (© Piergiogio Chiampo)
23 May 2011Arco di Trento, Italy - Martin Dematteis of Italy and Slovenia’s Lucija Krkoc at the 2nd International race relay, in Arco di Trento, Italy, on Sunday (22).
The event, which included 265 men and 96 women, was the first race of the WMRA Grand Prix 2011. The competition was a relay race but for the Grand Prix an individual list was settled at the end of the race.
In the men’s individual Grand Prix result the best time was produced by Dematteis who clocked 27:58.
Second was his twin, Bernard Dematteis, in 28:25 and third was Eritrean Ogubit Gebrengus in 28:40. Gabriele Abate (28:55) was fourth and fifth again an Eritrean, Debessay Tessige, in 29:03.
In the women’s individual the winner was Krkoc whose 23:27 performance was the fastest ever run in this race. Second was English runner Emma Clayton in 24:06 with Italian runner Alice Gaggi third in 24:18.
The Eritrean relay formed by Tessige, Petro Mamu and Weldemarian A. Teklay won the race, dominating in 1:27:46.
Second in the relay was the Italian club team Podistica Valle Varaita formed by Martin Dematteis, Manuel Solavaggione and Bernard Dematteis in 1:29.22 and third was another Eritrean team composed of Gebrengus, Mguse Tesfaldef and Adhanom Abraha in 1:29.49.
In the women’s competition, the podium was dominated by three Italian clubs: first was Runner Team 99 SBV (with Valentina Belotti and Valeria Straneo) with a time of 49:11; G. S. Forestale (with Maria Grazia Roberti and Antonella Confortola) was second in 49:25; Calcestruzzi Corradini Excelsior (with Gloria Marconi ed Ivana Iozzia) was third in 49:53.
Many spectators turned out for the event while local television coverage was guaranteed. A number of FIDAL officials, along with WMRA Council members Raimondo Balicco and Tomo Sarf, attended.
The WMRA Council will now evaluate this new experience, the inclusion of aa relay race in the WMRA Grand Prix.
Bruno Gozzelino for the IAAF