Ethiopians Abere Chane and Asmera-Work-Bekele Wolkeba took the wins at Austria’s most prestigious Silvester Race in Peuerbach on New Year’s Eve.

Twenty-five-year old Chane had to fight until the very last stages to beat Austrian Günther Weidlinger by a mere two metres. Both were timed at 18:49 over the 6.8 kilometre course and came within three seconds of the course record set by Richard Limo. Aberu Kuma, recently third at the Great Ethiopian Run in Addis Ababa, took third place in 19:18.

Chane went out hard from the beginning and led a group of five with Weidlinger 40 metres adrift. Weidlinger, 31, who has seven victories at his home race in Peuerbach to his credit, worked his way forward and challenged Chane until the very end.

In the womens race over 5.1 kilometres young Ethiopian Asmera-Work-Bekele Wolkeba won decisively, clocking 16:25. The 18-year-old was clearly ahead of Svetlana Kouhan from Belarus (16:39) and Hungarian Livia Toth (16:43).