17.09.2007

Maiden gold on the mountains

Australia has had a strong showing in the weekend’s WRMA World Mountain Running Trophy in Ovronnaz, Switzerland, claiming individual and team gold medals.

Australian junior cross-country champion and world cross representative Lara Tamsett of Sydney (pictured) claimed the junior division, while Canowindra's Veronica Wallington recovered from a nasty fall when leading to finish third.

The Australian team, including Sydney's Lauren McKillop, won the team gold medal as the USA earned silver and Turkey bronze.

In the junior men, Melbourne's Matt Bayley had an outstanding run to finish eighth while Ben Guest of Gosford was 12th.

Italian Marco De Gasperi (ITA) won his fifth world title, holding off the strong challenge of an African duo from Eritrea.

De Gasperi, who excels in the up/down version of the World Trophy, had a comfortable margin of victory on the three-lap course of 12km and 933m of ascent/descent, beating Tesfay Yohhanes by 30 seconds in a time of 51.49.

Anna Pichrtova (CZE) lifted the women’s world title at last after several high positions in previous trophy races.

Eritrea dominated the junior men’s race with athletes second, third, fourth and seventh. However, the individual gold went to Ugandan Geoffrey Kusuro who won a thrilling sprint finish by five seconds.

Crans Montana, Switzerland will stage next year’s event, looking to better Ovronnaz which saw a record number of 390 athletes from 35 countries compete.

The Australian team was as follows:

Men: Scott McTaggart, Stephen Brown, Mark Bourne, Stuart Doyle, Adam Leane
Women: Hubertien Wichers, Cindy King
Junior men: Matthew Bayley, Ben Guest, Kevin Batt
Junior women: Veronica Wallington, Lara Tamsett, Lauren McKillop
Team manager: Cindy King
Assistant managers: Ruth McTaggart, Kevin Wills

Courtesy IAAF and John Harding