European Athletics (EAA) – News – Rosa Morato finished second in Soria over the weekend.

The 2010-2011 season of European Athletics Cross Country Permit Races opened with events in Belgium, Portugal and Spain on Sunday.

At the Lotto CrossCup van West-Vlaanderen Cross Country in the Belgian town of Roeselare, Norway’s national 10000m champion Dabaya Badhaso was a comfortable winner over the 9.89km course, crossing the line in 30:10 after pulling away from the four-man leading pack in the middle of the race.

Ethiopia’s Dame Tasame was second in 30:25, just one second in front of Belgium’s  Jeroen D’Hoedt, the junior men’s winner at the 2009 SPAR European Cross Country Championships in Dublin.

Now 20, D’Hoedt will be in the start line of the under 23 men’s race at this year’s championships in three weeks' time, where he will clearly be a potential medal contender.

The 2010 SPAR European Cross Country Championships will be staged in Albufeira, Portugal, on 12 December.

Fourth in Roeselare was another Belgian, Atelaw Bekele, the bronze medallist in the under 23 race 12 months ago, who stopped the clock in 30:33.

Ethiopian-born Almensch Belete, who has applied for Belgian citizenship and expects it to be confirmed early next year, won the women’s 6.75km race in 23:17.

She came home ahead of  Belgium’s Sigrid Vanden Bempt and Ukraine’s Yulia Ruban, who were second and third in 23:20 and 23:23 respectively.

The XXI Corta Mato Cidade De Amora – Cross International in Amora, Portugal, saw British and Slovenian runners triumph.

In the men’s 8km race, Great Britain’s Scott Overall clocked 24:56 – his only previous appearance in the SPAR Cross Country Championships was when he finished 39th two years ago in Brussels – to win by one second from local runner Ricardo Mateus, who will run in the under 23 race in front of family and friends at the 2010 SPAR European Cross Country Championships.

Slovenia’s Sonja Roman, the 2009 European Athletics Indoor Championships 1500m bronze medallist,  fulfilled her role as the women’s pre-race favourite and won the 5km in 17:26. She finished comfortably in front of the 20-year-old Ukrainian runner Viktoriya Pohoryelska, 10th as a junior at the 2008 SPAR European Cross Country Championships, who was timed at 17:34.

The first Portuguese woman to cross the line was Carla Salome Rocha, who was third in 17:37. Like her compatriot Mateus, she will run in the under 23 race in Albufeira.

The XVII Cross Internacional de Soria in Spain saw Kenya’s reigning world cross country champion Joseph Ebuya win over 10km in 29:57, just edging out his compatriot Matthew Kisorio by one second.

Ayad Lamdassem, fifth at the 2009 SPAR European Cross Country Championships and part of the victorious Spanish senior men’s team in Dublin, was a distant third in 30:31 while Spain’s 2010 European Athletics Championships 1500m champion Arturo Casado had a rare cross country outing and finished 21st in 32:17.

South Africa’s Lebo Phalula was the surprise winner of the women’s 8km race in Soria, clocking 28:18 to win by three seconds from Spain’s Rosa Morató, last year’s SPAR European Cross Country Championships senior women’s silver medallist, while Portugal’s Ana Dias was third in 28:25.

European Athletics (EAA) – News