Spain's Bikila and Turkey's Usküdar Belediyesi Spor Kulübü are Europe's top XC clubs
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| Spain's Ayad Lamdassem won the men's individual 10km race and guided his club Bikila to the overall title at the European Champion Clubs Cup Cross Country in Castellon on Sunday. |
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Bikila regained the crown they won in 2010, while Usküdar Belediyesi Spor Kulübü retained the title they won 12 months ago, with both clubs being lead home by the individual champions.
Spain's 2010 and 2011 SPAR European Cross country Championships silver medallist Ayad Lamdassem from Bikila and Belaynesh Oljira representing Usküdar Belediyesi Spor Kulübü won the individual titles in Castellon.
Lamdassem won an exciting 10km race on the flat and dry Circuito del Pinar del Grau after a sprint finish over the final 150m with Italy's former SPAR European Cross Country Championships junior and U23 winner Andrea Lalli, who was running for G.S. Fiamme Gialle.
The Spaniard only edged in front in the final five metres and crossed the line in 28:36, with Lalli being given the same time.
Spanish international Ricardo Serrano, running for another Spanish club Otsu Colibri Guadalajara, as third in 28.44.
Serrano ran an excellent race, despite going through a difficult patch just after the halfway point when he drifted back as far as seventh, and was part of a four-man group who heard the bell for the last of five 2km circuits together.
However, he had to let the top two go about a kilometre from home.
Another Bikila runner Javier Guerra, who was sixth at the 2011 SPAR Cross Country Championships in the Slovenia city of Velenje in December, forced the pace with 2km to go but perhaps made his move a little too early and ended up coming home fourth.
With Lamdassem and Guerra leading the way, and also Ivan Fernandez finishing sixth, the Bikila scoring quartet won with just 25 points while Guadalajara were second with 40 points and G.S. Fiamme Gialle two points further back.
Ethiopia's Oljira won the 6km women's race and crossed the line in 18:52 with her compatriot Asli Cakir, 11th last year, coming home as the runner up two seconds in arrears.
Italy's 2011 SPAR European Cross Country Championships fourth place finisher Nadia Ejaffini, running for the Italian army club C.S. Esercito, was third in 18:56 while Portugal's silver medallist in Velenje, Ana Dulce Félix, was a distant fourth in the colours of Maratona Clube De Portugal.
The 2010 and 2011 European Champion Clubs Cup Cross Country winner Alemitu Bekele, who is also the 2010 European Athletics Championships 5000m gold medallist, came home sixth.
With three Usküdar Belediyesi Spor women home in the first six, Bahar Dogan completed their scoring quartet when she crossed the line in 10th place and the Turkish club won with just 19 points.
Russia's 2010 champions Luch Moscow also managed to get all four of their scorers in the top 10 but with their first woman home being Olga Golovina in fifth place, they finished second in the team standings with 29 points while Maratona, who only lost out on the 2011 title by two points, had to settle for third this time with 54 points.
Portugal's Sport Lisboa e Benfica ended Turkey's domination of the junior men's team title when they managed to pack their four scorers into the first eight to win with just 17 points.
Ruben Silva took the individual honours in the 6km race, finishing in 18:12, with his team mate Adrião Rodrigues just outsprinting Russia's Vitaliy Lagushin, running for SC Zauralets, with both men given the same time of 18:14.
Zauralets were second for the second year running in the junior men's category, this time with 28 points, while Turkey's Fenerbahce Spor Kulübü, who have won the junior men's title for the last three years, had to settle for third place this time with 39 points.
If Zauralets came up just short of the gold medal in the junior men's contest, there was no mistake in the opening race of the day as Luch Moscow fulfilled their role as favourites for the junior women's title. They took the accolade for the fourth consecutive year by winning with the biggest margin of the day, packing their four scorers into the first five women home.
Vera Vasileva won for the Russians, covering the 4km course in 13:14, and although she was followed home two seconds later by Portugal's Silviana Dias, running for Uniao Desportiva Da Varzea, the next three spots were filled by Muscovite teenagers to give Luch a winning total of 13 points.
Uniao Desportiva Da Varzea finished second with 36 points while Ireland's 2007 junior women's champions Dundrum South Dublin were third with 61 points with their leading runner Siofra Cleirigh-Buttner coming home in sixth place.
Full results can be found here.
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