Agnes Tirop at the 2015 Discovery Kenya race (© Jiro Mochizuki)
African junior cross-country champion Agnes Tirop dispatched a high-calibre senior field at the 24th edition of the Eldoret Discovery Cross Country race held in windy conditions at the Eldoret Sports Club on Sunday (25).
In one of her first races as a senior, two-time world junior 5000m bronze medallist Tirop won the women’s 6km in 19:41 by a healthy margin ahead of Commonwealth steeplechase champion Purity Cherotich and Viola Kibiwott in 19:59 and 20:04 respectively.
In the men’s 10km, little-known Peter Emase won in 29:44 over Stephen Arita and Kenneth Kipkemboi.
Two-time world 1500m champion Asbel Kiprop ran the first 8km of the senior race before dropping out.
Sandra Chebet, who has been in the in-form runner on the domestic circuit this season, chalked up another win in the junior women’s 6km in 20:18 while Richard Kimunyan won the junior men’s 8km in 23:53.
Carton ends Belgium’s drought in Hannut
The rapidly improving Louise Carton, 20, became the first Belgian winner of the women’s race in 14 years at the Lotto Cross Cup de la Province de Liege in Hannut on Sunday.
Carton, who finished adrift of the top 10 in this race 12 months ago, decisively won the 6km race in 22:04 to follow in the footsteps of Anje Smolders, who was the last Belgian winner in Hannut back in 2001.
At opposing ends of the age spectrum, world youth 1500m champion Tigist Gashaw, 18, was second in 22:20 with former winner Veerle Dejaeghere, 41, third in 22:26.
Former world junior steeplechase record-holder Birtukan Adamu, who eked out a one-second victory in last year’s race, was fourth this time in 22:40.
In the men’s 10km, Belgian-based Ethiopian Tasame Dame improved on his second-place finish from last year with victory in a well-contested race on a muddy course.
Dame and Birhanu Yemataw from Bahrain separated themselves from the rest of the group in the early stages but Dame, who boasts much more experience in this sort of environment, pulled away for victory in the last 400m in 32:52 to Yemataw’s 32:54.
Bernard Bett from Kenya comprised the podium in 33:30 with Isaac Kimeli the first Belgian finisher in fourth in 33:34.
At the 38th edition of the Cross Memorial Jesus Luis Alos in Huesca, Nguse Amlosom ran out a comfortable winner in the 10.56km race.
Since Zersenay Tadese won back in 2006, Eritreans have dominated the men’s senior race in particular, and Amlosom’s victory was the eighth triumph by an Eritrean since Tadese’s initial win nearly a decade ago.
Amlosom, the African 10,000m champion on the track last summer, won in 31:03 to defeat two-time European cross-country champion Alemayehu Bezabeh on home soil by 16 seconds.
In the women’s race, Rehima Jewar from Ethiopia took top spot in the 6.42km race in 22:06 ahead of local runners Raquel Garcia (22:08) and Jacqueline Martin (22:22).
Steven Mills for the IAAF
