Senior Men’s Report – Elgoibar, Spain Cross Country 5th January 2025

The famous ‘Juan Muguerza’ cross country race in Elgoibar, Northern Spain was the venue for the England cross country team on the 1st weekend of 2025.
The dramatic mountainous backdrop of this Basque region town was the focus of attention once again as a dry mild day ensured this year’s race would be run on a very firm course.
The England men’s team was headed by Tomer Tarragano, winner of the Liverpool trial with Alfie Manthorpe, Jacob Cann and late replacement for David Stone, Richard Slade making up the starting 4. 
A sedate start around the 2 laps of the rack followed by a lap of the he adjacent field showed the England runners to the fore despite the presence of Berihu Aregawi of Ethiopia in the lineup. Alfie Manthorpe showed his hand first going to the front but was quickly followed by Tomer Tarragano with Cann and Slade also hovering in a top 10 position but this was the early flat part of the race before venturing out onto a fairly gruelling 4 lap course up and around the stadium with significant climbs and drops.
So onto the hills on the first of the 4 large laps. This point the pace picked up and the race proper was underway. Tomer was now in 5th on the back of the lead group with Manthorpe in 6th and Cann and Slade locked in 8th & 9th. This is how it panned out for a lap and a half until Manthorpe took the mantle ahead of Tarragano and then a lap later another twist as we approached the Bell with 2km to go Manthorpe, Slade and Tarragano were locked together in 7, 8 and 9th positions with Cann 40 metres back in 10th. A fantastic last lap from Slade saw him get ahead and just beat Manthorpe and Tarragano for a fabulous 7th place on his England cross country debut. Closely followed by Manthorpe, with Tarragano a further 13 seconds behind and Cann coming in 10^th so all finishing in a row from 7th to 10th.

Result

1. Berihu Aregawi (Ethiopia) – 29:36
2. Rodrigue Kwizera (Burundi) – 29:37
3. Samuel Firewu (Ethiopia) – 29:59
4. Adel Mechaal (CT-18407) – 30:28
5. Miguel Ángel Martínez Chazarra (Playas de Castellón) – 30:39
6. Miguel Baidal (CT-23164) – 30:50
7. Richard Slade (England) – 30:55
8. Alfie Manthorpe (England) – 30:56
9. Tomer Tarragano (England) – 31:08
10. Jacob Cann (England) – 31:16