The Brasov Running Festival 2024’s European Road Mile races saw wins for Lithuania’s Gabija Galvydyte and France’s Romain Mornet with the pair crossing the line in course records of 4:36.8 and 4:01.7 respectively on Saturday the 21st.
The gun went first on the women’s race and Galvydyte, a Paris 2024 Olympian over 800m and the fastest woman in the field with a 1500m best of 4:08.60 to her name, immediately raced into the lead.
Galvydyte was approximately 30 metres ahead of her nearest rivals at the halfway point on the course around Brasov’s Coresi business district but was clearly tiring in the final 200 metres as Hungary’s Lili Anna Vindics-Toth started to close her down with the line in sight.
However, the Lithuanian hung on to cross the line in 4:36.8 with Vindics-Toth just under a second behind her in 4:37.7, national records for the two women for the increasingly popular event which gained international recognition last year.
“It’s been a busy year. I finished university in the USA this summer as well as going to the Olympics and running under two minutes for the 800m so this is a great end to the season,” said Galvydyte.
“In fact, I thought I had finished my season just over a week ago and then this race got offered to me and I thought ‘I have one more race in my legs’ so I’m really glad I came here.
“I started fast as I wasn’t sure of the course and expected people to chase me earlier but that didn’t happen,” she added.
| The men’s race developed in a very different fashion as a five-man pack stayed together for much of the race about 30 metres adrift of the Kenyan pacemaker who had been instructed to tow the leaders towards a sub-4 time. After the pacemaker dropped out, with 300 metres to go Mornet started to steadily increase the pace. In the closing stages of the race only Great Britain’s James Gormley could stay with the Frenchman as the pair duelled for the win with the line in sight. However, in the end Mornet had too much in reserve and was able to hold off the Briton with the pair crossing the line in 4:01.7 and 4:02.3 respectively. “I wanted to run faster but the pacermaker went too far ahead so after 200 metres I decided just to plan how I was going to take the victory,” reflected Mornet. “At one kilometre, I went to the front and started to push then pushed again with maybe 300 metres to go as that’s very familiar to me from races on the track, the perfect distance to attack. It’s what you practice in training and what you do in races. I knew I had the capacity [to hold off his rivals] in the last 100 metres. |
| Leading results: MEN Romain Mornet (FRA) 4:01.70 James Gormley (GBR)4:02.30 Ignacio Fontes (ESP) 4:03.70 WOMEN Gabija Galvydyte (LTU) 4:36.80 Lili Anna Vindics-Toth (HUN) 4:37.70 Lilla Böhm (HUN) 4:41.0 |
| Full results for the European Road Mile races and all the Brasov Running Festival races, including the tRUNsylvania 10K on Sunday 22 September can be found here. The Brasov Running Festival 2024 continues on Sunday with the the tRUNsylvania 10K, a World Athletics Elite Label Race, the only one of its kind in Romania, and the country’s premier road race. The tRUNsylvania 10K will be streamed live via the Brasov Running Festival’s website and YouTube channel. 09:30 local time (06:30 GMT) – tRUNsylvania 10K women’s race 10:15 local time (07:15 GMT) – tRUNsylvania 10K men’s race The Festival takes place against the spectacular backdrop of the Carpathian Mountains and is held close to the centre of the historic and picturesque Transylvanian city which can date its origins back to the 13th century. |
