Conforlimpa and Usküdar Belediyesi win at European Champion Clubs Cup Cross Country

Spain’s Ayad Lamdassem and Turkey’s Alemitu Bekele took the individual honours at the 48th edition of the European Champion Clubs Cup Cross Country in the Italian town of San Vittore Olona on Sunday, while Portugal’s Grupo Desportivo e Recreativo Conforlimpa and Turkey’s Usküdar Belediyesi Spor Kulübü were victorious in the senior team competitions.

Youssef El Kalai, Ayad Lamdassem and Abraham Niyonkuru - the  winners of the men's 10,000m race at the European Champion Clubs Cup Cross Country in San Vittore Olona on Sunday. (Photos by Giancarlo Colombo)

Lamdassem, running for the Spain’s defending champion Bikila, won over the 10,000m course in 28:58 to just hold off Portugal’s Youssef El Kalai by two seconds to produce the same result as at the 2010 SPAR Cross Country Championships just under two months ago, when the pair finished with the silver and bronze medals respectively.

After the early skirmishing, there were four men in contention going into the last of the five 2,000m laps: Lamdassem, El Kalai, Tanzania’s Pascal Mombo Sarwatt, running for Czech club Ak Kromeriz, and Burundi’s Abraham Niyonguru, running for the French club Athleg Provence.

Sarwatt was dropped a few hundred metres from the line and Lamdassem hit the accelerator with around 100m to go to claim victory.

“It was a tough race but what mattered today was the tactical battle for the European Cup win. I am happy because I improved my second place from last year in this event in Bilbao,” said Lamdassem.

Lead home by El Kalai, Conforlimpa got the rest of their scorers into the top 10 - with Manuel Daimao, Eduardo Mbengani and Licinio Pimental finishing fifth, seventh and 10th respectively - to run out comfortable winners with a score of 24 points to regain the title for Portugal after Maratona Clube de Portugal won in 2009.

Helped by Niyonguru finishing third in 29:01, Athleg Provence took a surprise second place with 44 points and edged in front of defending champions Bikila, who had to settle for third this time with 45 points.

Bekele, last year’s individual women’s winner in Bilbao 12 months ago and the 2010 European Athletics Championships 5,000m winner, finished the women’s 6,000m race in 20:28 to lead help her club Usküdar Belediyesi Spor Kulübü regain the team title they won in 2009 but lost by one point to SC Moscow last February.

Alemitu Bekele of Turkish club Usküdar Belediyesi Spor Kulübü won the women's 6 km race in 20.28.

The Turkish runner came home three seconds ahead of Portugal’s Dulce Félix, running Maratona Clube de Portugal, with the 2010 SPAR Cross Country Championships bronze medallist’s team mate Sara Moreira another seven second further back.

At the bell, with 2,000m to go, the trio was clear of the rest of the field and swapped the lead amongst themselves.

Moreira, the 2010 European Athletics Championships 5,000m bronze medallist, started to lose ground on her two rivals with a kilometre to go before Bekele kicked hard over the final 200m to shake off Félix and clinch her third consecutive individual victory at the event.

“I suffered from a cold last week and I was not in my best shape. This was not an easy race because the course was slippery and a bit tough for me,” said Bekele.

Usküdar Belediyesi Spor Kulübü totalled 34 points to win by two points from nine-time champions Maratona, the Turkish team’s narrow margin of victory being partly due to the 2010 SPAR European Cross Country Championships under 23 champion Meryem Erdogan having an off day and only being able to finish 18th.

The Italian Army Sports Group Esercito were led home by the 2011 Italian cross country champion Nadia Ejjafini who finished fifth, and totalled 60 points for third place, the same position they had finished in 2010.

The men’s junior race was won convincingly by Russia’s Andres Rusakov from the SC Zauralets club, who covered the 6,000m course in 18:50 and came home 13 seconds clear of Spain’s Gabriel Navarro, running for the Playas de Castellon club.

Turkish team Fenerbahce Spor Kulübü won the junior men’s team title for the third consecutive year with Mehmet Demir, fifth in 2010, finishing third this time around in 19:41.

Fenerbahce’s 2010 junior man’s winner Muhammet Tan had to settle for seventh place this time but he was his team’s second scorer as they finished with 37 points. SC Zauralets finished second with 45 points.

Turkey’s Esma Ayedemir Tarim Kredi Ulku Sport Club took the women’s junior race over 4,000m in 15:17, beating Bosnia’s Desanka Ciro by 14 seconds.

However, there was another junior women’s team win for SC Moscow which, like Fenerbahce, was their third-in-a-row.

Leading finisher for the Russians was Anastasia Oleynichenko, eighth 12 months ago in Bilbao and fourth in of San Vittore Olona.

With all four of their scorers in the top 10, SC Moscow put together a total of 31 points to finish 27 points ahead of Portuguese team Sport Lisboa E Benfica for the most convincing team triumph of the day.

Click here for complete results.