Another important results in Austria in the classical race of the new year eve: The Silvesterlauf international in Peuerbach.

5. Andrea Mayr, AUT                           16:51

The new sponsorship partnership between UFA Assurances and Olympia Altitude Training Center continue to bring success to the center's athletes: this time UFA Olympia team swept the podium in BLOM Beirut International Marathon winning first and second places in the men's marathon and first, second in the women's race as well. UFA Olympia Lebanese Athlete HUSSEIN AWADAH was 7^th place overall and 1^st place Lebanese category; with a perfect conduct of the race he was cable to break the national marathon record and set the new score to 2:20:31, 5 second ahead of the previous national record.

 The course was slightly modified from previous editions and the race very well organized. The race was never in contention with the Olympia team heading out at the lead of the race and taking it all the way to the finish. Also the 4^th, 5^thand  6^th position in men category was for olympia athletes. 4^th place in women was also gained by olympia as well….a real triumph for the new partnership with UFA sponsorship!

OLYMPIA Athlete Mohamed Temam hangs
on to win the 2010 Beirut Marathon

AUGUST 29, 2010. LA VOLATA DI NAPOLA, ITALY

In the same meeting in the 5000m men, 3 UFA OLYMPIA ATHLETES WERE IN THE FIRST 5 POSITIONS:
MILIYON YEHWALAESHT 2^nd   PLACE IN 14.07”.40
ZELALEM BACHA 3^rd IN 14.08.04
DEBELU NIGUSU 5^th IN 14.14.38

Ethiopia's Tizita Bogale duly won the race but Ciara Mageean with a stunning performance managed to upset the expected African domination when winning the silver medal ahead of Nancy Chepkwemoi on the final day of the 13th IAAF World Junior Championships at the Stade de Moncton.

Bogale after dominating her semi final, proved the stronger in the finishing straight to produce a PB 4:08.06 as she pulled away from the unrated Irish athlete with Kenya's Nancy Chepkwemoi struggling behind them clocking 4:11.04.

"This is my first time competing at the Championships and I'm delighted to have won it," said Bogale. "The race was very competitive. There was a fierce struggle for the win and I am happy to withstood all that."

Indeed Bogale's victory the first for her country since Abebech Nigussie's success a decade ago, was nearly thwarted by the Mageean who ran an incredible metric mile.
Mageean who set an unheralded National record of 4:15.46 a year ago in Finland and who only came into contention in the last 500m of the race, reduced that mark to a fantastic 4:09.51.

1st and 2nd place in the prestigious 6th Meeting Iberoamericano in Huelva – Spain.

Olympia ATC also has a charity program called “Poor No More” which selects underprivileged youths with running potential and supports them in their training and education – read more on our website.  

Alena Vinitskaya won the women’s fields and Nikolay Kerimov won the master’s division last Sunday at the 2010 Pittsburgh Marathon despite the threat of a suspected bomb scare.  A suspicious device near the finish line prompted police to stop the race ten minutes after the men’s winner crossed the finish line.  However, bomb squads disabled what is now believed to be a microwave.  The disruption came a day after a car-bomb scare in New York emptied Times Square.

The event had a record number of participants as 16,000 people took to the streets of Pittsburgh on a rainy and damp day.  The race was interrupted after police found the suspicious microwave on the sidewalk.  Both the marathon and half marathon courses were routed in a different direction while the bomb squad studied the object.  Despite the scare, race times and distances were not affected.

Spira elite runner, Alena Vinitskaya of Belarus, Russia won in 2:42:33.  After running most of the race with American Phoebe Ko, Vinitskaya made her move at mile 15 and went on to win the race from there in 2:42:33.  Spira elite runner Nikolay Kerimov from Gainesville, Florida won the master’s division title finishing at 2:33:12.

Congratulations to Vinitskaya and Kerimov for these outstanding victories--not even the bomb scare could prevent another Spira win!

Olympia Altitude Training Center Addis Ababa does it again… powered by Spira! The Cracow Marathon was fought out on Sunday 25^th April, an auspicious date, sharing the glory with the London Marathon. While their finish time in London was 2:05 the Cracow Marathon boasted a more modest 2:16 for the men and 2:37 for the women; the day in Cracow was very windy and therefore the race was not as fast as expected…. but First Place is First Place!.

“Olympia continues to grow and develop athletes all over the world… watch out for more victories together with our partners Spira!” declared Antonio Nannoni, the Altitude Training Center Director.

The Beirut Marathon Association is supporting the Lebanese National Men’s Marathon Champion in his push towards the Zurich Marathon in April… it is expected that he will break the Men’s national record when he runs there…

A windless and sun-bathed spring morning in Ras Al Khaimah greeted the record field of over 2,000 entrants on Friday for the 4th edition of the RAK Half Marathon, but although the 7.20am start was designed to suit the massed elite ranks, it was a day of "merely" fast times, not records.

That's actually not strictly true, as in a stunning half marathon debut, Turkey's double Olympic silver medalist Elvan Abeylegesse tore through the last 6km, after a stuttering first 15km, to set a new course record of 1:07:07 defeating a stellar field of top road racers including several more fancied former compatriots from Ethiopia. The first eight women dipped under 69 minutes confirming the strength in depth.

In the men's contest, the expected challenge of Deriba Merga (ETH) faltered as the prolific racer and regular front runner inexplicably stepped off the road at 18km when the pack had reduced to four, opening the way for yet another Kenyan win, this time Geoffrey Mutai taking the honors in 59:43. The first four men broke the hour however, strengthening RAK's reputation as a venue for lightening quick times.

For Abeylegesse, her post-race comments suggested a hidden frustration, "If the pace had been faster and steadier, my time could have been a lot quicker. I felt easy at 15km (48:03) and it was only then I decided to start pushing the pace."

After working under Croatian coach Nicola Boric for just ten weeks, this was an important career move for the tiny 27 year old who understands and speaks better English than her naturally shy demeanor lets on. She insisted after the race that her marathon debut would still have to wait till after the 2012 Olympics, but did admit to being excited by what more she can do over this new distance.

The early pace (16:02 for 5km) was disappointing in the perfect conditions (18C at the start), but hopes rose of something special as the big pack passed 10km in 31:54 (a 15:52 split). However, 15km in 48:03 meant a 16:09 split and any chance of a shot at the targeted world record (66:25, Lornah Kiplagat, Udine 07) was gone. At that point, the group of six included the winner, and five Ethiopians, Teyba Erkesso, Aselefech Mergia, Koren Yal, Mare Dibaba and defending RAK champion Dire Tune.

Just as Tune had turned the screw in the late winds that spoiled last year's record attempts, firstly Erkesso then Abeylegesse, the only track specialist in the group, picked up the pace with the latter ripping a 15:44 split to 20km to test her far more experienced rivals. Surprisingly while Tune dropped back quickly, it was Dibaba and Mergia who hung on the longest, though even they couldn't live with the withering home straight surge from the Turk.

While Abeylegesse's winning time is the quickest debut ever, Dibaba improved her own best to 1:07:13 as runner up, with ever consistent Mergia third place breaking new ground in 1:07:22, beating her personal best from last year's RAK runner up performance. Teyba Erkesso - also a lifetime best - and Dire Tune followed through under 68 minutes, with Atsede Habtamu (ETH), Hilda Kibet (NED) and Agnes Kiprop (KEN) all under 69 minutes. Ten miles had been passed in 51:28, only twelve seconds outside Colleen de Reuck's 51:16 world best.

Such has been the quality of the men's running in each of the three previous years at RAK, that Mutai's performance seemed almost anti-climactic, but as in the women's race, the early pace did the main protagonists no favours and a sense of "what might have been" prevailed. In 2007, the unheralded Sammy Wanjiru won in 58:53; in 2007 Patrick Makau took the first of two consecutive titles, in 59:35, followed by a 58:52 course record twelve months later - still the No.2 performance all time

And now this - a 59:43 clocking, though not a personal best for Mutai, seen as a relative failure in only the fourth year of the event; how so? Well conditions were perfect, but the pack chose to ignore the pace making and as in the women's contest, started cautiously, with Jairus Chanchima (59:43 in Lille last September) leading a pack of thirteen through 5km in 14:04 - already 14 seconds outside of schedule. Thirteen became seven at 10km (28:11) by which time all thoughts of a world record had gone, the 14:07 split for that 5km continuing the theme. At this stage, an unusually restrained race from Deriba Merga meant no-one was prepared to push on and the subsequent splits times of 42:33 at 15km (a 14:22 5km, six in contention) and 56:52 at 20km (14:19, four left in it) made even the one hour mark look precarious. Almost unnoticed en route, ten miles had been passed in 45:45

For 28 year old Mutai however, this was a further indicator that he's a man to watch. Last November he won the Valencia Half in 59:30, and here he had the confidence to be the first to start pushing the pace at around 18km. Complaining afterwards that the humidity was high, he none the less controlled the last mile, burning up the last 1.097km in 2:51 for a six second win from debutante - though established marathon runner - Tadese Tola, who's 59:49 is some debut! Titus Masai (KEN) with 59:51 set a personal best, having run 60:00 exactly in Nice last April, and the fourth man under the hour was Getu Feleke (ETH) with 59:56, another lifetime best.

Koreni Jelila (ETH) (Elshadai Negash)

Jelila grabs third win in four races – senior women’s race

There was little surprise in the senior women’s race as Jelila continued her outstanding form this season with her third victory in four races since September. The 25-year-old, who made a successful debut in the Venice Marathon in October by finishing second in a respectable 2:28.41; has made a stunning transformation winning cross country races in Sendafa and now in Sululta, while taking a dominant victory in the 2009 Ethiopian Airlines Great Ethiopian Run 10km two months ago.

In Sululta, Jelila had another difficult field to contend with, with World championships marathon bronze medallist Asselefech Mergia, 2008 World junior Cross Country silver medallist Emebet Eta, and World junior 5000m champion Sule Utura posing a realistic challenge to her winning streak.

Jelila and Utura exchanged leads in front of a large pack of ten athletes for the first 2km of the four-lap 8km contest. Utura threatened a major breakaway at the halfway point, but Jelila stuck with her and made her own decisive breakthrough at 6km to take victory in 28:30.03. Utura was three second behind the race winner in 28:33.49 with unknown Fayesse Tadesse crossing the line in third, some 13 seconds behind Utura.

“The wind was too difficult and made the competition difficult,” Jelila said. “I am not sure if I will take part in Jan Meda (Ethiopia’s world cross country trials), but I would definitely want to participate in Poland.”

Jida shocks Chane – men’s senior race

Domestic cross country races in Ethiopia rarely throw in surprise winners as the tough racing conditions tends to favor experienced runners. But Gishu Jida’s victory in Sululta took even the experienced observers by surprise in what was expected to be a successful homecoming for Abera Chane, winner of the domestic cross country races in Sendafa and Bahir Dar, who took an impressive victory in Italy last Sunday.

Yetwale Kinde, 32nd in the World junior race in Amman last year, led the strong field through the opening 2kms and was later joined by Jida. Their brave front running tactics caught the attention of the crowd, but they were closely checked by experienced runners like Chane, Imane Merga (fourth in the World championships 10,000m), Yemane Tsegaye (fourth in the World championships marathon), and Habtamu Fekadu (fifth in the 2008 World cross country senior race).

The large group stayed together until the last kilometre when Chane and Jida made a penultimate breakaway. Many expected Chane to use his experience to best his young understudy, but Jida surprised everyone when he coasted past the experienced runner to take victory in 37:45:61. Chane held off the challenge from Fekadu Lema to finish second.

“The competition wasn’t easy, especially the wind made it so difficult,” Jida said. “I want to do well like our hero athletes. I want to repeat Kenenisa (Bekele)’s success on cross country.”

Victories for Wincha and Bekele  - junior races

In the junior women’s 6km, Shito Wincha took a surprise victory over Genet Yalew and Emebet Anteneh, who had finished third and fourth in the World youth championships 3000m in Bressanone last year.

Her decisive move came in the 4km where she evaded the intentions of early leader Meseret Mengistu to take victory in 21:06.32, five and 12 seconds ahead of Yalew and Anteneh respectively. Her victory was all the more surprising because Wincha normally runs the 800m and 1500m and has very little experience over the cross country.

“The competition was good,” said Wincha. “It is my first time to run in Sululta. I was winner of Addis Ababa cross country championships and I want to win again in the Jan Meda (Ethiopia’s world cross country trials). Then I want to compete in Poland representing my country and I want to be famous.”

The men’s junior also produced another unlikely winner with Azmeraw Bekele taking victory. After a largely congested first half of the race, Bekele (no relation to Kenenisa Bekele) made two moves that won him the race. The first came at 6km where he moved to the front of a leading group of nine runners. The second was another burst of speed which took him clear of early leader Million Yehualashet for victory in 24:40.76.

“The competition today wasn’t tough for me,” he said. “But a week before, I was fourth in a race in Assela and was trying not to repeat the same mistake I did there. Today was windy but because I trained well, it wasn’t difficult. In the coming month, I want to take part on the trials and get a result that would help me take part in Poland.”

Elshadai Negash (with the assistance of Tadele Assefa) for the IAAF