World 1500m champion Isaac Nader was in victorious form for his club SL Benfica in the mixed relay at the ECCC Cross Country in Albufeira, Portugal on Sunday (8).
Two months after Nader scythed through the field on the anchor leg to take Portugal from fifth to silver at the SPAR European Cross Country Championships in Lagoa, Nader enjoyed a much more leisurely path to victory this afternoon.
There was a degree of inevitability to proceedings as Nader took up the running on the third leg with a clear lead established by Etson Barros and Kenya’s Teresiah Gateri. And Benfica’s ascendancy only grew as Nader handed on the wristband to his clubmate and double European indoor medallist Salome Afonso.
Afonso, who arrived fresh from setting a Portuguese 1500m record of 4:01.98 in Ostrava last week, duly anchored SL Benfica to back-to-back victories. The quartet won in 17:44 by 16 seconds over their domestic rivals Sporting Clube de Portugal who fielded a strong team including Jose Carlos Pinto and Patricia Silva.
Parisian-based team Decines Meyzieu Athletisme, whose team included former European U23 cross country silver medallist Valentin Bresc, were a distant third in 18:22.
Castellon conquers again
The Playas de Castellon dominance of the senior men’s race continued as Burundi’s Rodrigue Kwizera won his fourth individual title since 2022 and led the Spanish club to their fourth successive team title.
Kwizera glided away from Uganda’s 2022 world 5000m bronze medallist Oscar Chelimo (Atletica Casone) on the last lap of the senior men’s 9.28km and the advantage that he accumulated was such that Kwizera could afford to ease off in the long finishing straight while acknowledging the spectators.
Kwizera, who has lived in Spain since 2019 and is in the process of securing Spanish citizenship, won in 27:19 by 10 seconds from Chelimo with Kenya’s Charles Rotich, who was representing Sporting Clube de Portugal, third in 27:32.
Kwizera was flanked by reigning European cross country champion Thierry Ndikumwenayo who was Castellon’s second counter in fifth (27:45) with Miguel Chazzara placing seventh (27:51) to ensure the continuation of the Castellon dominance of this category. The Spanish team scored 13 points with Chelimo leading Atletica Casone to team silver with 23 points.
Behind Kenya’s Mirriam Cherop who won the individual senior women’s 9.28km race in 31:36, Jackline Rotich finished second overall but first in the context of the ECCC Cross Country in 31:50, also leading Sporting Clube Braga to back-to-back team titles.
Rotich was backed up by Mariana Machado who finished sixth overall in 32:17 with Laura Taborda, who was the leading Portuguese finisher on home soil at the 2025 SPAR European Cross Country Championships, coming through the field for a 10th-place finish.
SC Braga won the overall honours ahead of Fenerbahce and Bilbao Atletismo, the latter being led by Carolina Robles in fourth overall in 32:01.
Castellon’s youngsters triumph in the U20 race
World U20 cross country champion Frankline Kibet from Kenya dominated the U20 men’s 5.62km, strolling to victory for Sporting Clube de Portugal in 16:53 and winning by 41 seconds from Spain’s Guillem Sans (Castellon) and fellow Sporting Clube de Portugal team member Dinis Ferreira in 17:37.
But despite fielding two of the three individual medallists, Sporting Clube’s third counter could only muster up a 29th-place finish. This meant team honours went to Castellon with 21 points to Sporting Clube’s 33 points.
The age-old adage that every position counts was truer than ever in the U20 women’s 5.62km. Aldershot and Fenerbahce were tied on 20 points each but the verdict went to the Turkish club whose third counter Dondu Boyraz finished one place ahead of Aldershot’s third counter.
Spain’s Sandra Fernandez (Atletica Lucense) won the individual title in 20:05 from Marta Grau in 20:08 with Fenerbahce’s Ayten Yobas completing the podium with individual bronze in 20:13.
