Ibrahim Jeylan wins the 10,000m at the Ethiopian Championships (© Nahom Tesfaye)
Ethiopian junior cross country champion Ibrahim Jeylan was an impressive winner of the 10,000m race in the opening day of the 27th Ethiopian Athletics Championships (3 - 7 May 2006) at altitude in the Ethiopian capital.
Jeylan, who was part of the Ethiopian junior men's team at the 34th IAAF World Cross Country Championships in Fukuoka, Japan, bided his time behind the front runners throughout the race and made his penultimate break with 200m to go to the finish to take a comfortable win in 28:49.07, over four seconds ahead of second-placed Tadesse Tola.
The race, which was the opener of the five-day championships, was devoid of big names who opted instead to seat out these championships due to training commitments for the international track season.
The race of 'unknowns' got off to a frantic start with two runners dropping off the pace with less than two laps of the twenty-five completed. The next develop took place at the the half-way point when Prisons club runner Tadesse Tola moved up the field and taking seven other runners with him and and dropping 14 off the pace.
Tola upped the tempo and by the end of the 20th lap, the pack had dwindled down to six. But when he made another brave break with three laps to go which only Tessema Abshiro, Ibrahim Jeylan and Raja Assefa were able to follow.
At the bell, Tola deservedly hit the front again but his move perhaps came too early, for Jeylan was able to catch Tola with 200m of the race to go and open up a comfortable margin of victory for what was his first national senior title. Tola's determined front-running was rewarded with second place, while Raja Assefa, 14th in the 2005 World Half Marathon championships, beat Tessema Abshiro for third.
In the other major races of the day, former World Junior Cross Country bronze medallist Mestawot Tadesse made it safely through to Friday's women 1500m final by winning the second of the two semi-finals. The first of those semis was won by Berhane Hirpassa, a runner also making a comeback after a long-time out with injury. Joining the duo will be Emebet Eta'a, member of Ethiopia's Fukuoka junior women team, and Makeda Haroun, winner of the 2006 Women First Confidence 5km run in Addis Ababa.
Elshadai Negash for the IAAF
27th Ethiopian Athletics Championships
Day 1 - Results
Men
10,000m
1. Ibrahim Jeylan (Muger Cement) 28:49.07
2. Tadesse Tola (Prisons) 28:53.66
3. Raja Assefa (St. George) 28:55.30
Discus
1. Mohammed Sale' (Defense) 40.45m
2. Tsegaye Woldesenbet (Defense) 40.19m
3. Bekele Gebre (Prisons) 37.12m
Women
1500m (Qualified athletes)
Semifinal 1
1. Berhane Herpassa (Muger Cement) 4:24.40
2. Mahlet Melese (Rental Houses) 4:25.16
3. Frehiwot Goshu (Prisons) 4:25.17
4. Emebet Eta'a (Defense) 4:26.19
5. Zeytuna Arebo (Prisons) 4:26.97
Semifinal 2
1. Mestawot Tadesse (Ethiopian Banks) 4:24.94
2. Meskerem Assefa (Oromiya Prisons) 4:25.61
3. Makeda Haroun (Prisons) 4:26.57
4. Beshawork Aman (Oromiya Police) 4:26.75
5. Adanech Fisseha (Muger Cement) 4:27.42
6. Berhan Aregawi (EEPCO) 4:27.82
7. Elisabeth Bekele (Ethiopian Banks) 4:27.96
