Athletics - Cross: Italian Championships. Parco Alpi Apuane takes gold and silver

Great feat of the Apuan Alps Park Ecoverde Team: gold and silver in Cassino, at the Italian cross-country team championship. The green and white team placed second overall, thanks to the first three placings of its athletes, valid for compiling the ranking: Louis Intunzinzi, a recently arrived Burundian, in 30'10”. Then the young talent Nicolò Bedini in 31'14” and, with a few seconds more, Michele Fontana. René Cuneaz and Francesco Nardone also competed in the starting quintet fielded by the Park. At individual level, Celestin Ndikumana prevailed in the sprint ahead of Oscar Chelimo and Louis Intunzinzi.

In the team rankings, the historic opponents of the Park, the Emilians of Casone Athletics, ahead of Alpi Apuane; third place for Sicily Running. In the 2024 edition, the black and green team from Garfagnana had taken the lead, eight points ahead of the Casone Noceto team from Parma and twenty ahead of Atletica Val Brembana; the others were further behind: Atletica Vomano, Dinamo Sport, Sicilia Running and so on.

Also of note were the other individual tests of the black and greens Roberto Di Pasquali, Francesco Da Vià, Jean Pierre Vallet, Mattia Scalas and Andrea Nannizzi. Omar Bouamer, Lorenzo Brunier and Marco Zanzottera were unable to compete due to injury.

The first team place and, therefore, the tricolour gold came, instead, in the category "MM35", with the quartet composed of Andrea Nannizzi, Carlo Pogliani, Stefano Bascherini e Emanuel Fadda who imposed themselves authoritatively in the relay race. Each athlete had to complete a two-kilometer lap. The black and green quartet (composed of Andrea Nannizzi, Emanuele Fadda, Carlo Pogliani and Stefano Bascherini) had come in second last year.

Finally, good performances in the men's 3 km short race for the promising Loic Proment and Stefano Bascherini.

Dino Magistrelli