Mawia reigns supreme in Soria as Ndikumwenayo wins the men's race

Kenya’s Lucy Mawia clocked 27:02 to retain her title at the Cross Internacional de Soria, the fourth Gold standard meeting of this season’s World Athletics Cross Country Tour, held at altitude (1100m) in Soria, Spain, on a sunny but windy Sunday.

The 8km women’s race was a two-woman contest between Mawia and Burundi's Cavaline Nahimana as the two broke away from the rest to open a gap of about 100m by the end of the opening kilometre, which was covered in 3:22.

After successive 2km laps of 6:53 and 6:51, the lead pair, with Mawia in charge of pacing duties and the Burundian running at her shoulder, had built a margin of more than a minute on the chasing group, headed by Olympian and marathon specialist Laura Méndez and Laura Luengo, a 1:12:39 half marathon specialist.

On the penultimate circuit, Mawia started to pull away from Nahimana. By the bell, the Kenyan was already a virtual victor as her advantage on Nahimana had risen to 30 seconds.

While Mawia continued to pull away, Nahimana began to falter dramatically on the closing lap and midway through the circuit was overtaken by Luengo, García and Maria Luz Tesuri who had been reeled in by the Spaniards.

Mawia reached the finish line 61 seconds ahead of García, the runner-up after passing Luengo in the final 200m with the Argentinean in fourth.

“I kicked off fast to make sure I would be on the podium. I am very satisfied as I managed to win again here,” offered the Kenyan at the finish line.

The men's 10km event was a thriller from the beginning as Italian cross-country champion Iliass Aouani started like a bullet and was a lonesome leader barely 30 seconds into the race.

Burundian, Thierry Ndikumwenayo who set a world-leading time of 7:25.93 over 3000m earlier this year, didn't wait until the home straight to launch his attack, and he unleashed a powerful kick about 500m from the finish.

He timed 28:34 with Merhawi Mebrahtu second in 28:36. Uganda’s Peter Maru completed a classy podium eight seconds adrift.

“It was a tough race because of the annoying wind,” said 25-year-old Ndikumwenayo, who has been living in the Spanish city of Castellón for the past seven years. “The Italian ran away from the start but I decided to keep my mind cold and wait how the race developed. Fortunately, we could reel him in and, over the closing kilometre, I felt very confident of my final speed.”

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Women

1 Lucy Mawia Muli (KEN) 27:02

2 Marta García (ESP) 28:03

3 Laura Luengo (ESP) 28:04

4 Maria Luz Tesuri (ARG) 28:12

5 Cristina Ruiz (ESP) 28:19

6 Naima Ait Alibou (ESP) 28:24

7 Marta Pérez (ESP) 28:27

8 Esther Navarrete (ESP) 28:29

9 Lidia Campo (ESP) 28:51

10 Beatriz Álvarez (ESP) 28:52

Men

1 Thierry Ndikumwenayo (BDI) 28:34

2 Merhawi Mebrahtu (ERI) 28:36

3 Peter Maru (UGA) 28:44

4 Iliass Aouani (ITA) 28:53

5 Dismas Yeko (UGA) 29:19

6 Thomas Ayeko (UGA) 29:26

7 Nassim Hassaous (ESP) 29:27

8 Santiago Catrofe (URU) 29:28

9 Yahya Aouina (ESP) 29:30

10 Ilias Fifa (ESP) 29:50

Additional information by World Athletics