Belfast International Cross Country - Results & Photogra

[EPelle]

...Last year's winner Ritzenhein made a brave attempt to claim a repeat success by going out hard early on but the African duo stayed in touch and broke clear of the American on the penultimate lap.

Kosgei won in 28 minutes and five seconds, one second ahead of Kipsiro while Ritzenhein came home in 28:20.

Cragg, the European indoor 3,000m champion, was hugely disappointed with his performance which left him "shellshocked".

"I'm pretty embarrassed with that. A good crowd had turned up and I was the home hope but my legs just felt heavy today. There was nothing there," said Cragg, who was a minute and four seconds behind the winner.

The South African native added that his left hamstring had felt tight early on.

"But I don't want to be making excuses. Training had been going well and I expected to run a lot better today."

Cragg pulled out of last month's European Cross Country Championships because of a minor leg injury. story here

[runner123]

Dathan Ritzenhien finsihed a good 3rd in the Belfast International Cross Country. Ritzenhien, Kosgei (Kenya) and Kipsiro (Uganda) traded places for much of the race before Kosgei eventually outsprinted Kipsiro in the last 200m to win. For Ritzenhien his run was good return to form and he was very competitive for all but the last lap. Alister Cragg finished 6th. Although never with the leaders after the first lap he ran well in his first race back. The race was run in cold (2C), damp and very overcast conditions. Underfoot the ground was mainly dry with only a few sections of mud.
E Kidane (Ethiopia) was the winner of the womens race outsprinting two of her fellow countrywomen over the final few meters.

There are photogrpahs from these race at http://www.annadalestriders.co.uk/Stomont/Pictures.htm

There are results at http://www.annadalestriders.co.uk/Stomont/results.htm