From: yohannes debesai (ydebesai@yahoo.com)
Date: Tue Jan 27 2009 - 09:15:35 EST
Furtuna zegergish also did excellent in Spain finishing fifth.
WOMEN – Kalovics overcomes all barriers to succeed
The women’s 5.8km contest offered an interesting clash between some top Europeans such as Hungary’s Aniko Kalovics plus the Spanish duo of 2007 European XC champion Marta Domínguez and Rosa Morató, who claimed bronze on that occasion, who were up against Kenya’s Olympic 3000m Steeplechase silver medallist Eunice Jepkorir and Morocco’s Soud Kambouchia, a 28th finisher at last year’s World XC championships in Edinburgh.
Kalovics’s first success was to be able to get to San Sebastian on time. The 31-year-old Hungarian had been scheduled to travel to Spain via Nice but she lost her connection there due to the very bad weather throughout a large part of South Europe over the weekend. However, Kalovics was determined to perform on Sunday and so she decided to travel by car to reach San Sebastián as late as 2am of the event’s day.
Unlike in the men’s race, Kalovics, an accomplished performer over muddy surfaces, killed the event as a competition right from the gun and gave no options to her opponents by setting a hot pace which simply could not be matched by any other athlete.
With the clock reading eight minutes Kalovics had already built a sizeable margin of 12 seconds over a six-athlete chasing group which was headed by Eritrea’s Fortuna Zegerghis and Domínguez but soon that pack decreased to three units in the guise of the Spaniard, Kambouchia and Jepkorir.
By then the tireless Kalovics kept on her solo run and maintained a comfortable advantage of 80m over her pursuers. Over the final lap it was the Spain-based Kambouchia who pushed hard and managed to leave top steeplechasers Domínguez and Jepkorir way back.
At the finish line Kalovics’s winning margin was 11 seconds on Kambouchia, herself another 9 seconds clear of Domínguez, who kept last year’s victor Jepkorir at bay to claim the minor place on the podium.
It has been a busy January for Kalovics, who clinched top spot in San Giorgio Su Legnano (EA permit) on 6 January before taking runner-up position in Elgoibar (11 Jan) and a 6th place in Seville (IAAF permit) last 18 January.
Women (5.8km)
1. Aniko Kalovics (Hungary) 18:45
2. Soud Kambouchia (Morocco) 18:56
3. Marta Domínguez (Spain) 19:05
4. Eunice Jepkorir (Kenya) 19:11
5. Fortuna Zegerghis (Eritrea) 19:17
6. Rosa Morató (Spain) 19:21
7. Tatiana Holovchenko (Ukraine) 19:22
8. Judit Plá (Spain) 19:36
9. Gema Barrachina (Spain) 19:49
10. Elena Moreno (Spain) 20:43
“Persistence is the twin sister of excellence. One is a matter of quality; the other, a matter of time.”
“Permanence, perseverance and persistence in spite of all obstacles, discouragement, and impossibilities: It is this, that in all things distinguishes the strong soul from the weak” Thomas Carlyle .
----[This List to be used for Eritrea Related News Only]----