An unexpected winner in the men's race, a winner, who after all was not, in the women's. These were the surprises at the National Championship of Corta Mato Longo, a race that was part of the 39th edition of the Cross Internacional das Amendoeiras em Flor, held on Sunday, at Açoteias track, in Albufeira.
In the women's competition, Sara Moreira, Sporting's athlete, was launched, with a lap to go, to win her first national cross-country title and raised her arms, convinced that she had finished, stopping after running, to celebrate.
Alerted by the judges that there was still a lap to go, Sara Moreira – who claimed to have heard the indicator bell for the last lap in the previous lap – no longer had the soul strength to continue, breaking out in a convulsive cry.
With what, in practice, was the withdrawal of the athlete from Sporting, chronicle Second placed in recent years, the victory belonged to Benfica player Salomé Rocha, who finished the race in 34.10 minutes.
Then there were two other Benfica players, Dulce Félix, the winner of the six previous national editions of Corta Mato, timed at 34.57, and also Mónica Dias, with 35.14. This trio embodied on the podium and the strange withdrawal of Sara Moreira ensured Benfica the collective female title.
The men's competition, on the other hand, had as unexpected winner an amateur athlete, Nelson Cruz, from Clube Pedro Pessoa, with a time of 30.44 minutes, followed by Ricardo Ribas, with 30.49, and Rui Teixeira, from Sporting, with 30.51 minutes. .
Nelson Cruz, 39, is an amateur athlete, Portuguese-Cape Verdean, Olympic (for Cape Verde) in the marathon (48th) in 2008. To be on the Açoteias track on Sunday morning, Nelson, who works in a hypermarket in Almada as a replenisher, he left work at midnight and started the trip to the Algarve with the team at 6 am.
“I took a risk, they let me go and I managed to overcome myself. But until the last lap I didn't believe it”, explained the winner, who isolated himself from the start, given the passivity of the favorites, Benfica and Sporting, afraid of each other and thinking about the collective fight. “I was always waiting for them to catch me. But the support of the public gave me strength…”, said the new champion, quoted by the newspaper «Record».
Along the Açoteias track, more than 2000 athletes of all ages passed by on Sunday, on a sunny day that also served to honor a group of institutions and personalities that have contributed to the enhancement of athletics.
The Cross Internacional das Amendoeiras em Flor is a sporting event consisting of several events that, in total, involve approximately 2000 athletes, including Federated, School and Adapted Sports.
Before the Cross dispute, Clube Desportivo Areias de São João held its 14th Corta Mato, part of the Regional Long Cross Championship. This competition covered the levels of Benjamins, Infants, Beginners, Youths, Juniors, Seniors and Veterans Female and Male.
In the afternoon, the Pista das Açoteias hosted the 26th National Cutting Championship for the Handicapped, an Adapted Sports event that has been part of the event's program.
This year, the Algarve Athletics Association also decided to honor personalities and entities that have contributed to the promotion of the sport.
Highlight for the Municipality of Albufeira, which has supported and been the stage of this emblematic event. “It is an honor to receive this distinction, which represents the importance that athletics has had for Albufeira for many years,” said Carlos Silva e Sousa.
The mayor recalled that "the county hosts internships and training for athletes from all over the world and was the stage for one of the biggest events of the sport, in 2010, the European Championship of Corta Mato, which projected Albufeira for the whole world".
The tribute was extended to the municipalities of Loulé and Vila Real de Santo António, as well as to the Regional Tourism Authority of the Algarve, Portuguese Sports and Youth Institute, Portuguese Athletics Federation and A Bola newspaper.
In individual terms, people who boosted athletics in the Algarve were honored such as José Pedrosa, Fernando Mota, Desidério Silva, Carlos Moia, José Manuel Constantino, João Campos, Maria Sameiro Araújo and Rui Miguel Costa.
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