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Bleasdale blazes the trail with superb win

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On a weekend when African runners once more showed their strength at the IAAF World Half Marathon Championships in Copenhagen, a European athlete tilted back the balance very slightly.

On Saturday in Carlsbad, USA, Great Britain’s Julia Bleasdale produced one of the best wins of her career with victory over 5000m and beat a Kenyan and Ethiopian in doing so.

Bleasdale, 32, made an impact internationally fairly late in her career, being part of the British women’s team which won gold at the SPAR European Cross Country Championships in Velenje in 2011 and then finishing eighth in both the 5000m and 10,000m at the Olympic Games in London the following summer.

But now she has a new personal best 5000m road time to her name after this excellent win in Carlsbad in 15:06 from Betsy Saina, of Kenya, who was second in 15:21, and Etalemhu Habtewold, of Ethiopia, who was third in 15:23.

Doubling the distance to 10,000m and moving onto the track and back across Europe to Lisbon, there were some fine performances at the Trofeo Iberico which saw world leading times in both races.

The men’s event was won by Spain’s Alemayehu Bezabeh, who also took the Spanish title as he triumphed in 28:12.85 on his debut over the distance in beating countrymen Roberto Alaiz, second in 28:27.76, and Mohamed Marhoum, third in 28:28.22.

And in the women’s race, there was a home win for Jessica Augusto in 31:57.02, ahead of fellow Portuguese Carla Rocha, who was second in a personal best of 32:19.98, with Dolores Checa taking the Spanish title in third, also with a lifetime best, as she ran 32:22.21.

At the Belarus Walking Cup, Ivan Trotskiy won the 30km in 2:45:50; Andriy Talashko took the 20km in 1:23:55 while Anna Drabenya beat Alina Matveyuk by 21 seconds with 1:33:07 in the women’s 20km race.

In the Czech Republic, the Slovak winners at the 48th Olomouc walking event were both teenagers.

Patrik Spevak, 19, triumphed over 20km in 1:28:12 and Michal Morvay, 17, won the 10km in 44:49, while in Locorotondo, Giorgio Rubino, in 1:26:57, and Antonella Palmisano, in 1:32:24, were crowned Italy’s’ 20km race walking champions.

Back in the USA, Lyudmila Litvinova, who won Olympic 400m relay silver for Russia in Beijing in 2008, dropped down to the 200m at the Bobcat Invitational in San Marcos, Texas, and won in 23.28.

And in Szombathely, Hungary’s Bence Halasz, 16, showed his growing talent with a superb 81.64m at the youth hammer of 5kg.

Dutch runners finished fourth in both races at the Venlo Half Marathon, Koen Raymaekers crossing the line in 1:04:41 in the men’s event with Stefanie Bouma timed at 1:16:03 in the women’s event.

In Palmanova, there was a home win for Italy’s Massimo Leonardi in the second edition of the UNESCO Cities Marathon in 2:20:38 with Russia’s Oksana Akimenkova first in the women’s race in 2:44:21.

Cross country also remains in full swing and in Miedzyzdroje, Sofia Ennaoui, who won silver in the 1500m at the European Athletics Junior Championships in Rieti last summer, showed her versatility when she took the Polish junior cross country championships 4km title in 13:53 with Bartosz Wrobel winning the boys’ 6km in 19:12.

THE WEEK AHEAD

Saturday - 23rd Grande Premio Internacional de Rio Maior em Marcha Atletica (Rio Maior), Milla Internacional de Bilbao (Bilbao), Half Marathon Trcame kon celta (Skopje), Hervis Prague Half Marathon (Prague).

Sunday - Alexander the Great Marathon (Pella-Thessaloniki), Balkan Half Marathon Championships (Durres), Bratislava Marathon (Bratislava), Brighton Marathon (Brighton), Great Ireland Run (Dublin), Linz Marathon (Linz), Parelloop 10km (Brunssum), Schneider Electric Marathon de Paris (Paris),  Sinj Half Marathon (Sinj), Suisse Gas Milano Marathon (Milan),  Zurich Marathon (Zurich).



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