The Petit Gabriel AC member, Jameson Marianne, won the national cross-country title in the senior men category yesterday in Flic en Flac. This is a first for Rodrigues who has never won the title in this category. Sonia Soodon won the senior women’s title.
Barefoot, he literally surfed on soft waves while thirty meters behind the main favourites for the victory were caught in a whirlpool. A perfect management of the race that allowed him to give Rodrigues his first national cross-country title in the senior men category.
The observation round between Simon Desvaux de Marigny, winner of the league, and Nitish Jhugursing, the only one to have beaten Simon Desvaux de Marigny in the first four rounds, was perfectly exploited by Jameson Marianne. And not only him, because in the leading pack, the Rodriguaise guard with Brian Fils (3rd) and Mathew Edouard (5th) also confused the strategies of the main favourites.
Sometimes hidden in the peloton and sometimes at the front, Jameson Marianne finally made the gap with 2 km to go and let his joy explode at the finish by covering the 6.6 km in 23:23 while choosing to run barefoot. “I am very happy to have given Rodrigues his first national championship title in this category,” he said. Simon Desvaux of Marigny was second in 23:28 and Brian Fils took the bronze medal in 23:31.
In the senior women’s race it was Sonia Soodon who was the favourite. With a time of 23:45 over 5.5 km she did not have to force her talent to beat Antoinette Milazar (23:45) and Sabrina Rabot (27:30).
The athletes who won the Mauritius title are : Marie Waynaelle Nadal and Lakshya Bissesur (U10), Kelsy Leclerc and Adriel Berthelot (U12), Louise Dalais and Chad Howard (U14), Nia Keeling and Kenan Leclerc (U16), Céline Nanette and Miguel Allas (U18), Malika Ramasawmy and Hans Labonne (U20), Valerie Gérard and Jean-Luc Vilbrim (Masters).
