2011 SPAR Great Ireland Run: Charlotte Purdue runs away

The 19-year-old taking charge of the race after eight kilometres powered
away to finish well clear of Gemma Steel who finished in a time of
33min 03sec with Nadia Ejjafini of Italy placing third in 33min 09sec.

It was the testing pace of Ejjafini which initially destroyed the
ambitions of pre-race favourite Ethiopia’s Berhane Adere one of the
world’s greatest ever distance runners who fell away after seven
kilometres and Hungary’s highly experienced Aniko Kalovics who quickly
followed.

Purdue in contrast always looked comfortable as the overseas visitors
faded out of contention a fate which befell Ireland’s s top stars Mary
Cullen and Fionualla Britton whose hopes of a home victory were also
dented.

When Purdue the top non-African finisher at last month’s IAAF World
Cross Country Championships made her move, it was decisive and her razor
sharp turn of pace quickly opened up a lengthy gap ahead of Steel and
Ejjafini.

“The course was easier than I thought and it wasn’t the plan to break
away like that,” said the reigning European Junior Cross Country
champion who will very shortly depart for a period of high altitude
training in Font Romeau, the French Pyrenees venue Paula Radcliffe uses.
 
“At 5km I felt as if I was jogging and then at 8km I could hear everyone around me breathing heavily, so I just went.”
       
Purdue who some believe could eventually follow in the footsteps of
Radcliffe, dismissed suggestions that two hard races within 24 hours was
probably too much for a 19-year-old.

“It didn’t affect me at all and in my head I didn’t think about it,” she
said. “The volume of training I do prepared me for the races.”

Espana produced a lethal finish in the final 1200 metres to clinch the
men’s title in a time of 29min 26sec ahead of Finland’s Jussi Utriainen
and Martin Fagan.

The Spaniard was content to follow the pace particularly when defending
champion Fagan took charge in the second half of the race which saw the
demise of the highly fancied Sergey Lebid of Ukraine and Portugal’s Rui
Silva.

With two kilometres remaining that left the host nation’s Fagan in the
driving seat with Espana and Utrianen determined to prevent him notching
another victory.

“I suffered a lot in the race because Martin made it hard,” said Espana
who failed to defend his European title in Barcelona last summer when
beaten into second place by Mo Farah.

The meeting’s first ever Spanish champion added: “But towards the end I
started feeling good, but it was still very difficult for me to win.”
 
Fagan
who triumphed 12 months ago against domestic opposition because of
flight cancellations caused by the volcanic ash disruption on
traveling, declared himself happy with another podium finish.

The USA-based star, said: “It was totally different from last year where
I felt I was just running against the clock. Today it was an
international field.”
 
Fagan recently returned from injury and whose immediate future aim is
qualifying for the 2012 Olympic marathon added: “Off four weeks training
I feel a different person. It’s more than I expected.”

Results
Men
1, J Espana (Spain) 29minutes 26seconds
2, J Utrianen (Finland) 29:31
3, M Fagan (Ireland) 29:35
4, S Lebid (Ukraine) 29:53
5, A Carlson (USA) 30:00
6, M Gabrielson (USA) 30:08
7, R Silva (Portugal) 30:17
8, J-C de la Ossa (Spain) 30:26
9, J Sweeney (Ireland) 30:42
10, E McGinley (Ireland) 30:46

Women
1, C Purdue (GB) 32:42
2, G Steel (GB) 33:03
3, N Ejjafini (Italy) 33:09
4, A Kalovics (Hungary) 33:32
5, B Adere (Ethiopia) 33:54
6, D Checa (Spain)    33:57
7, F Britton (Ireland) 34:10
8, M Cullen (Ireland) 34:22
9, A Hutchinson (Ireland) 34:43
10, L Small (GB) 35:01