As in the heyday of Carlos Lopes or Domingos Castro, the famous rise of the Commands made all the difference, because it was there that the Rui Pinto Benfica attacked, distancing himself from his opponents, to cut the isolated goal, with the time of 29.47 minutes.
Rui Pinto became the first to win the São Silvestre da Amadora race four times, while Ana Ferreira was the winner among the women in this 44th edition, with the highest participation ever.
As in the heyday of Carlos Lopes or Domingos Castro, the famous rise of the Commands made all the difference, because it was there that the Rui Pinto Benfica attacked, distancing himself from his opponents, to cut the isolated goal, with the time of 29.47 minutes.
In a race with one of the best groups of elite runners of the year-end races, Rui Pinto won for the third time in a row and became the most victorious ever with four wins, surpassing precisely Lopes and Domingos.
“I want to pay tribute to Carlos Lopes and to Domingos Castro, for their journey and their history. I must give them some of that result because they served as inspiration for me,” said the winner.
The crucial moment of the race was precisely after the fifth kilometre.
“I was doing it [raising Commands] and thinking it was designed for me. I feel very good going up, it’s hard and I felt it was the right time to get away,” said the athlete still waiting do better in the coming years.
His result was the fastest of all he achieved in Amadora and that left him with the feeling of training even more hard.
“The European landscape is evolving, and I feel I have to be more adventurous and run faster to get closer to the level of the best Europeans,” he said.
The following positions determined a greater power of Sporting, who had athletes in the rest of the podium, with Miguel Marques (29.58) and Licínio Pimentel (30.08), and fourth placed, Eduardo Mbengani (30.19), only then arriving the second benfiquista, Miguel Borges (30.25).
In women, the triumph of the sportinguista Ana Mafalda Ferreira, who last year was classified second and who now managed to triumph in one of the most charismatic events of the Portuguese calendar, having already triumphed in another at the beginning of the month, the Christmas Grand Prix.
“I’m so happy to have won, even more on a tough course, but I managed to do even faster than last year. It’s a small margin, a second, but it means a lot to me, that I feel good, in a good way, ” the athlete said.
Ana Mafalda Ferreira won by 34.42 minutes, ahead of Carla Martinho, Recreio de Águeda (35.09), and Ercília Machado (36.12), who had also been third in the São Silvestre of Lisbon two days ago.
