Kenya’s Thomas Longosiwa and Ethiopia’s Fente Alemu Birtukan were the winners at the 34th Cross della Vallagarina in the Italian town of Rovereto on Sunday, the penultimate of the 10 European Athletics Cross Country Permit Meetings this winter.
Longosiwa covered the 8.69km course in 26:07, breaking away from his rivals three kilometres from the finish.
The first European man home was Italy’s Stefano La Rosa in fourth place with 26:47, returning to form after his injury problems in December which saw him fail to finish at the SPAR European Cross Country Championships.
Birtukan, still a junior but an outstanding steeplechaser, won the women’s 5.59km race in 18:59. In second place was Italy’s Nadia Ejaffini in 19:11, who stayed on the shoulder of Birtukan for more than two-thirds of the race, while third was Ukraine’s 2006 SPAR European Cross Country Championships winner Tetyana Holovchenko in 19:25.
The final European Athletics Cross Country Permit Meeting of the winter will be the White Cross event in the Serbian capital Belgrade on January 30.