Selina Kosgei sprints home in 2003 Kenyan Champs 10,000m (© Omulo Okoth)
Oeiras, PortugalKenya's David Kilel (26:39) and Salina Kosgei (16:47) ended up victorious on a cold morning at the 22nd edition of the ‘Torres Vedras Internacional’ cross country – EAA Permit – race, today.
In the men’s race, Kilel, who also won here last year and was 8th at the 2003 World Cross Country Championships, took control right from the beginning, despite the opposition given by two other Kenyan athletes: Raymond Yator (26:44) and Barnabas Kosgei (27:04), who respectively finished in 2nd and 3rd places.
The first non-African finishers of the otherwise mainly Portuguese field, were Hélder Ornelas and Fernando Silva, in fourth and fifth with only 2 seconds distance between them. Silva is in good form at the moment having been the first non-African finisher at the recently held Oeiras Cross Country IAAF Permit race.
In the women’s event, Kenyan Salina Kosgei, the 2002 Commonwealth 10,000m champion came in first with an advantage of 4 seconds over Hungarian Aniko Kalovics (16:51), who also took second position in 2002.
After Kalovics, 26, who was 4th at the 2002 European Cross Country Championships, came the Portuguese runners who are looking forward to a place in the national squad for this year’s continental championships which will be held in Edinburgh, Scotland on 14 December - Inês Monteiro (4th, 17:00), Helena Sampaio (5th, 17:07), Anália Rosa (6th, 17:12),
Overall, in Torres Vedras about 1200 athletes (young, senior and veteran categories) competed, on what is a hard and undulating circuit.
Paulo Costa for the IAAF
Results
Men’s 8750m
1 David Kilel KEN 26:39
2 Raymond Yator KEN 26:44
3 Barnabas Kosguei KEN 27:04
4 Helder Ornelas POR 27:07
5 Fernando Silva POR 27:09
6 Philip Kipkoech KEN 27:25
7 Ricardo Ribas POR 27:31
8 James Mibei KEN 27:31
9 José Maduro POR 27:48
10 José Ramos POR 27:53
Women’s 5000m
1 Salina Kosgei KEN 16:47
2 Aniko Kalovicks HUN 16:51
3 Inês Monteiro POR 17:00
4 Helena Sampaio POR 17:07
5 Anália Rosa POR 17:12
6 Ana Dias POR 17:14
7 Fernanda Miranda POR 17:17
8 Marina Bastos POR 17:25
9 Cláudia Pereira POR 17:34
10 Leonor Carneiro POR 17:47
