Race Report – Lotto CrossCup in Diest, Belgium
On a particularly tight and twisty Diest course, a good start to the hairpin turn after 200 metres was essential. All three England senior male representatives were soon to the fore with Tomer Tarragano (club: Brighton & Hove, coach: Dean Miller) covering the lead, closely followed by Jack Gray (Cambridge & Coleridge, Mark Vile) and Ned Potter (Newham & Essex Beagles/Loughborough, Sonia McGeorge).
The pace at the front was fast and furious, with sections of heavy sand underfoot adding to the tough and technical conditions. As two top Belgian athletes pushed on and stretched the field, Gray was moving through and looking strong, showing great form after an excellent performance at the Armagh 5K just three days earlier.
Tarragano was mixing it with a group of six athletes just outside the top ten, closely followed by Potter, who was pushing hard, having struggled with illness earlier in the week.
Both athletes came off excellent top five performances at the previous weekend’s BUCS Championship.
Fast finishes from all three athletes saw them outsprinting their competition, with Jack finishing 7th (28:35) Tomer 12th (29:00) and Ned 16th (29:24) behind race winner Kimeli Isaac of Belgium (27:56).
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- Featured image: Tomer Tarragano. Image by Gary Mitchell.