“In a city dubbed &quot,The Sportiest City in France,&quot, a record 15 countries participated in the 8th WMRA International Youth Cup in Gap, France on July 7.
Turkey dominated the competition winning in total five medals: all the gold medals, individual and team, plus one silver.
Poland&nbsp,took two silver medals and England&nbsp, one silver medal.
Italy, Russia, Wales and hosting Country France gained one bronze medal each.“
“The sun was brightly shining with temperatures rising to nearly 26 degrees by the 10:30 a.m. start of the youth women’s 2.55-kilometer race.
Thirty-seven women competed on a course which started in an open meadow and climbed through the forest over mountain paths with Turkish runner Burcu Subatan, leading after the first checkpoint some 300 meters into the race until the finish.
During the first two kilometers, the second and third positions changed between athletes from Turkey, Russia, Poland, and Wales.
At the finish it was Burcu Subatan winning in 13:24, followed 14 seconds later by Poland’s Magdalena Dias. Rounding out the top three podium spots was Georgia Garner, Wales, in 13:47.
With 20 points, Turkey earned a gold medal.
In silver position was Poland with 24 points, and with 36 points, Russia2 won bronze. There were 11 teams in the youth women’s division.
The youth men’s race followed at 11:00 a.m. with 44 competitors racing over 5.3 kilometers.
After the first loop of 1.4 kilometers, Turkey’s Ridvan Yilmaz was already creating a gap over the field. Ridvan Yilmaz would increase his lead to nearly one minute by the finish.
The race for second and third see-sawed between Turkey’s Onur Aras, and Italy’s Davide Magnini.
At the finish it was Yilmaz in 23:53, followed by fellow countryman Aras in 24:46.
Magnini placed third in 24:55.
With the strong one-two finish, Turkey won the team title with 17 points.
In second was England with 29 points led by James Hall who finished in fourth position. The French team 38 points won the bronze medal with their first scoring runner Mehdi Frere finishing in sixth.
There were 13 teams finishing the youth men’s race.
This was the first appearance at the WMRA International Youth Cup by runners from France, Hungary and The Netherlands.
Presenting medals were Pierre Weiss, Tomo Sarf, Bashir Hussain and Nancy Hobbs from the WMRA while trophies were presented by the Local Organizing Committee.
Complete results are available at the LOC webpage
The venue for the 2014 WMRA International Youth Cup has not yet been announced.

News from Nancy Hobbs (WMRA Treasurer)

Photos from Nancy Hobbs:
on front page:
– Turkish delegation at Gap,
on second page:
. podium teams girl,
– Ridvan Yilmaz,
– Pierre Weiss at start’s procedure.

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