Bezabeh supreme as Farah gives his all
Bezabeh - awesome in Dublin
In what was an epic men’s race at today’s SPAR European Cross Country Championships Alemayehu Bezabeh showed why he is one of the continents leading XC exponents by actually toying with big pre-race favourite Mo Farah.
The race was down to the two men after around 9 minutes of running, following what was a frenetic opening mile or so, seeing tumbles and elbows as the 100+ field sorted itself out in what looked like a pretty narrow course for such a prestigious championship event.
Still, once the likes of Italian Andrea Lalli and fellow Britain Chris Thompson had chanced their arms at the head of affairs the race settled with Farah and Bezabeh beginning to establish their authority. 8-time winner Sergiy Lebid was in a clear third place after two of the 5 lap race, but was never really to get on terms with the duo, who stretched their lead over the race.
After around 6 of the 10km race Spain’s Bezabeh decided he would test Farah, and quickly established a 4-5 metre lead, however the Briton’s tenacity ensured that he wasn’t going to give up on his dream of another European title, after winning in 2007 and finishing runner-up to Lebid in Brussels last year.
Mo Farah leads, with Bezebeh looking ominous
Still, the form-book showed that Bezebeh was in a rich vein right now, finishing a mere metre back on current world XC champ Gebre Gebremariam just two weeks ago in Spain, and coming into the last lap the Spainiard dashed for home, and this time broke the young Brit. Indeed, such was Farah’s effort to stay with Bezabeh over the last mile that he collapsed at the finish only to be ‘stretchered’ off, in turn missing the medal ceremonies for both individual and team prizes.
But, there was to be no such drama for Bezabeh as he crossed the line a full 15 seconds ahead of Farah to win his first major title.
Spain also took the team prize, ahead of GB & NI, with the Italian squad in third.
Full results, courtesy of European Athletics can be found here
