Tadesse and Melkamu are outstanding victories in Alcobendas

Tadesse and Melkamu are outstanding victors in Alcobendas
Sunday 4 December 2005

Alcobendas, Spain - Eritrea’s Olympic 10,000m bronze medallist Zersenay Tadesse put on a dazzling display of solo running to capture an overwhelming win at the ‘24th Cross Internacional de la Constitución’ held on Sunday (4). On the women’s side it was very much the same story as Ethiopia’s Meselech Melkamu also cruised to a more than comfortable victory.

Tadesse’s and Melkamu’s respective advantages of 32 and 16 seconds over world class fields suggest they are on the right path to play a key role in the next IAAF World Cross Country Championships, Fukuoka, Japan (1 - 2 April).

MEN – Tadesse kills the race from the second lap

The first big news came prior to the competition as Kenya’s Ronald Kipchumba Rutto, who should have reasonably been Tadesse’s toughest rival for victory withdrew from the line-up. Only the day before World Junior 3000m Steeplechase champion had taken a clear cross country win ahead of Spain’s European 10,000m champion José Manuel Martínez the day before (Sat 3 Dec) in Aranda de Duero (Spain).

In the Kenyan’s absence the race became a two-way battle between the current World Cross Country silver medallists, Tadesse (long race) and Kenya’s Abraham Chebii (short race). But the local crowd could not enjoy a thrilling showdown between them as the 23-year-old Eritrean destroyed any opposition from the rest of the field with the clock reading eight minutes. From then on Tadesse was in charge, and only Chebii dared to follow Tadesse’s blistering pace but he only managed to stay at his shoulder for one kilometre.

The Madrid-based Tadesse did not need any help from his compatriots Yonas Kifle (twice in the top ten at the World Cross) and his 18-year-old brother Kidane Tadesse who was performing on cross country for only the fourth time in his career. At halfway, his older brother had built a handsome margin of 18 seconds (100m) on Chebii, himself 8 seconds ahead Kifle, while Spain’s Carlos Castillejo had overtaken a fading Tadesse jr. too, and ran in fourth.

Kilometre by kilometre the leader’s advantage over a lonesome Chebii became bigger and bigger to a finally huge 32 seconds at the finish line. Chebii kept Kifle at bay by 11 seconds to take runner-up spot. To get some idea of Tadesse’s supremacy today on the track he would have lapped the rest of the field including Spain’s Carlos Castillejo, fourth 1:15 behind, who came second at the last Spanish XC Championships, only bettered by Juan Carlos de la Ossa.

Tadesse declared, “I decided to push hard from the second lap because Chebii is a very dangerous athlete in the closing stages”. With this regard it should be mentioned that Chebii beat Kenenisa Bekele in a close sprint on 11 July 2003 at the Golden Gala in Rome (5000m), 12:57.14 vs 12:57.34). “I’m still far off my 100% as I only resumed training 12 weeks ago after the long track and road season. I now return to Eritrea for Christmas (8-28 December)” added Tadesse, who lives in Madrid for much of the year. His next confirmed appearance will be in Edinburgh on 14 January.

WOMEN – Unchallenged Melkamu

After following Portugal’s Monica Rosa’s pace for the first kilometre Meselech Melkamu proved to be the strongest by far. She then accelerated away and by the third kilometre (which she covered in a brisk 9:30) the reigning World Junior 5000m champion had built a comfortable win over Kenya’s Beatrice Chepchumba and Eritrea’s Simret Sultan which left the race emotionless.

Melkamu strengthened her leadership in the remaining laps and blazed to a 16-second success over Chepchumba, while Poland’s Justyna Bak overtook a fading Sultan in the second half of the race to take the minor place on the podium 24 seconds adrift of the Ethiopian. Kenya’s Naomi Mugo (PB of 3:58.12 back in 1998) completed a classy top-five four seconds clear of Monica Rosa.

Last March, one month before turning 20 years of age (19 April), Melkamu produced a praiseworthy performance at the last World Cross Country Championships taking fourth place in the long race, and, only 24 hours later, sixth position in the short race.

Under the guidance of Dr. Woldemeskel Kostre, the man behind the great achievements of Haile Gebrselassie and Kenenisa Bekele, Melkamu is a multi-talented runner able to win on all surfaces, as she also completed the 1-2-3-4 for Ethiopia over 5000m at the last World Championships on the track in Helsinki. She holds a notable 14:38.97 clocking for the distance when taking sixth at the IAAF Golden League meet in Rome last 8 July. She is due to compete next on Sunday 11 December in Yecla.


Results

Men (10.45km course)
1. Zersenay Tadesse (Eri) 29:13
2. Abraham Chebii (Ken) 29:45
3. Jonas Kifle (Eri) 29:56
4. Carlos Castillejo (Esp) 30:28
5. Kidane Tadesse (Eri) 30:37
6. Mauricio Díaz (Chi) 30:44
7. Roberto García (Esp) 30:57
8. Vicente Capitán (Esp) 30:58
9. Mohamed Kalouche (Mor) 31:05
10. Jesús España (Esp) 31:10


Women (6.1km course)
1. Meselech Melkamu (Eth) 19:14
2. Beatrice Chepchumba (Ken) 19:30
3. Justyna Bak (Pol) 19:38
4. Simret Sultan (Eri) 19:43
5. Naomi Mugo (Ken) 19:51
6. Monica Rosa (Por) 19:55
7. Jacqueline Martín (Esp) 20:25
8. Dolores Pulido (Esp) 20:30
9. Farida Makula (Tan) 20:38
10. Sara Valderas (Esp) 20:40