Tskilauri back to winning ways

The second race of the Road Runners League last Sunday saw a return to winning ways for Tamara Tsiklauri.
Although the female category featured just fifteen runners, with some of the big names such as Kim Baglietto not involved, the emergence of Carpe Diem as one of the top teams in the league is setting up a tight contest for this year’s title.
Tamara Tsiklauri claimed a comfortable victory with a time of 25:35 in the 6.5km race, which had to be rerouted due to works near Lovers Lane.
Hard on her heels was Laura Child from Lourdians, finishing just over ten seconds later with 25:48.
The sprint for third place was a close one, with Charlene Marin edging ahead with 29:08. Her Carpe Diem teammate Rosanna Dos Santos Fernandez was right behind her, finishing just one second later. Karyn Barnett also pushed for a strong finish, coming in only five seconds behind with a time of 29:14.
Although only eleven runners crossed the finish line in the female category, it proved a tightly contested race, with under five minutes separating the winner, Tsiklauri, from sixth-placed Magdalena Cox, who finished in 30:16.
The combined men’s and women’s race also delivered a major surprise, with fourteen-year-old Eusebio Vallatoro — running in his La Línea athletics club kit — finishing third overall with a time of 22:29. The youngster is hailed as one of the sport’s rising talents, finishing ahead of experienced runners such as Maurice Turnock, Julian Sheriff, Rowan Baxter, Colin Thompson, and Kacek Trajanowski, all of whom have held high positions in local races.
With Finley Cant finishing second behind Blagg, there was added optimism, with two of the top three positions going to under-20 athletes.