Bence Venyercsán wins the marathon race walk at the Dudinska 50 (© Dudinska 50 
Milan Duroch)
There was a double surprise at the Dudinska 50 – a World Athletics Race Walking Tour Gold meeting – in Dudince, Slovakia, on Saturday (7) as Bence Venyercsán won the men’s marathon and Evelyn Inga upstaged the favourites in the women’s half marathon.
In the other senior races, Perseus Karlström cruised to victory in the men’s half marathon, while Sofia Ramos Rodríguez won the women’s marathon.
The women’s half marathon race walk had been billed as a battle between Ecuador’s Paula Torres and Peru’s Kimberly García, both athletes with a lengthy pedigree of global success, but Inga took top spot this time, clocking a South American best of 1:33:49.
Alejandra Ortega looked to be on her way to a major win, but the Mexican race walker saw her 57-second lead at 15km snuffed out in a heartbeat when she was called into the penalty zone after receiving three red cards.
That left the door open for Inga to forge ahead of García and finish with a comfortable margin over her compatriot: 1:33:49 to 1:34:17. It was only the third time in 19 races that she had beaten her arch rival and both athletes finished inside García’s previous South American best of 1:35:10 achieved in Lima in November.
To her credit, Ortega refused to throw in the towel after her enforced stop and she surged to move into third ahead of a disappointed and tired Torres, 1:35:57 to 1:36:18.
Evelyn Inga celebrates her win at the Dudinska 50 (© Dudinska 50 
Milan Duroch)
Earlier, Venyercsán achieved the best result of his career when the Hungarian won the men’s marathon.
The 30-year-old bided his time and watched the race unravel around him before race walking the last 10km solo. His 3:03:45 finish was a European best as patience proved the watchword.
Behind him, early pacesetter Karl Junghannß recovered to finish second in 3:04:33 while his German compatriot and pre-race favourite Christopher Linke came third in 3:05:44.
But the surprise was the late entry from Aurélien Quinion, who finished fourth in the 20km race walk at the World Championships in Tokyo last year.
The French athlete’s job, as it turned out, was to nurture a second late entrant, Martin Madeline-Degy, to a 3:02:00 French qualifying time for the European Championships in Birmingham in August.
Quinion coaches Madeline-Degy and all went well for the pair until 32km, when the protégé had to serve a time penalty. Quinion waited for him by the roadside, only to suffer the same fate 5km later. Madeline-Degy went on to finish ninth in 3:10:31.
In the men’s half marathon race walk, Karlström strolled to one of the easiest wins of his career.
The four-time world medallist from Sweden showed his intent in the first 100 metres when he shot away and he eventually clocked 1:24:58 – a European best.
It improved another short-lived PB – the 1:28:52 Karlström clocked in Mexico last month.
A long way back, Jerry Jokinen from Finland recorded 1:28:17 for second-place. Like Karlström, he also race walked solo long before half way.
Behind him, Andres Nunez from Mexico claimed the last spot on the podium in 1:28:47.
The race for fourth was the only close finish in the first five. Mateusz Nowak from Poland clocked 1:29:51 and just got the better of 50-year-old João Vieira by three seconds – a wonderful result for the Portuguese two-time world medallist.
The women’s marathon saw another comfortable win, this time for Mexico’s Ramos Rodríguez.
An early charge from her teammate Nadia Manjarrez quickly faded and Ramos Rodríguez was on her own from 6km, going on to win in 3:35:37.
Fast-finishing Laura Monje Martinez from Spain overtook the French pair of Elvina Carré and Marine Rottier in the last three kilometres to finish second in 3:39:11.
Carré then pulled away from the fading Rottier to decide third and fourth as they respectively clocked 3:40:28 and 3:43:12, all improving their personal bests by considerable margins.
In Martinez’s case, it was 6:25 better than her debut at the distance at the Spanish Championships in February.
Bianca Dittrich of Germany finished fourth in 3:43:54.
Paul Warburton for World Athletics
