WITH a chance to compete in next March's World Cross Country Championships in South Africa at stake, Roberto De Vido yesterday must have all but booked his flight to Cape Town with a convincing overall win in the Watson's Hong Kong Cross Country Championships at Pokfulam.
Anchoring Watson's Athletic Club (WAC) to another easy team win which gave the club a cross country grand slam for the season, De Vido clocked 43 minutes, 53 seconds for the very tough 11.5-kilometre course to beat teammate Lee Kar-lun by five seconds with yet another WAC runner, Fong Tze-man, coming home third in 44:33.
But the runners were not too complimentary about the course.
'This was not a race but survival on a dangerous course ' said De Vido who stepped into a hidden hole to twist an ankle on the hacking trail up above Chi Fu. Second-placed Lee Kar-lun also complained that the course was so narrow in parts that runners could not overtake.
'I tried to get in front of De Vido but had no chance on the narrow path,' he said.
Yuko Gordon of Ladies Road Runners Club (LRRC) scored another easy overall win in the women's 7.2-kilometre race as she won the veterans' title, clocking 32:18 with TCAA junior Alli Li an impressive overall second ahead of LRRC's Gillian Castka and Chiu Pik-kwan in a time of 32:50.
As expected, LRRC scored an easy win in the women's team race from Southern District Harriers.
Gordon commented after the race that she would decline selection for the Cape Town world event in March.
WAC scooped the pool in the junior men's and women's team races, winning all three titles.