Tanui continues her good run in Italian cross country

Kenya’s Norah Tanui arrived in Rovereto fresh from a 10km life-time best of 31:17 in Valencia last weekend and demonstrated she is an athlete for all surfaces with a dominant victory at the Cross Internazionale della Vallagarina on Sunday.
The 22-year-old,—who improved her 3,000m steeplechase lifetime best from 9:25.07 to 9:03.70 last summer and ran 9:05 or faster three times in the space of six days in August—broke clear in the second kilometre and opened up a winning margin which increased to more than one minute ahead of a largely domestic line-up.
The African steeplechase champion covered the undulating 6.44km course in 21:05 with mountain running specialist Sara Bottarelli an isolated second in 22:29. Last year’s winner Sara Dossena had to settle for third in 22:36.
The men’s 8.8km was a more competitive affair with late entrant Telahun Bekele becoming the first Ethiopian to claim the men’s title since world 5,000m champion Muktar Edris in 2013. Bekele used the final incline to his advantage, breaking away from Uganda’s world steeplechase finalist, Albert Chemutai to win by five seconds in 26:59.
Ethiopia’s 2015 world U20 cross-country champion Yasin Haji, who turns 22 later this month, was third in 27:22.