Valencia, the marathon “looking into the eyes” of Berlin and New York

The Trinidad Alfonso Valencia Marathon has grown to more than 33,000 participants from welcoming approximately 3,000 runners In just a decade, more than half of them, 57%, are foreigners, but how did this explosion happen?

That the city is “ideal” for runners, that the Trinidad Alfonso Foundation, whose patron is the president of Mercadona, Juan Roig, has decided to support this event or that it is one of the great events of the circuit within for many years. key to May the eyes of the athletics world be focused on this Sunday’s event.

The Valencia marathon “is seen in the eyes of great marathons like Berlin, New York or Tokyo”explains Juan Botella, managing director of SD Correcaminos, the original club that organized the marathon since 1981 and continues to do so with the Council of the City of Valencia, as well as the Trinidad Alfonso Foundation.

“The marathon is a city and the personality of the city of Valencia guarantees that the runner“Both the athlete and the runner who comes to finish the test will find their fastest version,” said Botella, highlighting the quality of the “raw material.”

If the organization of this event, like the race itself, is a long-distance race, the Trinidad Alfonso Valencia Marathon seems to have passed kilometer 35 and is facing the last steps to reach the finish line.

“The key is in the harmony between an event that sustains SD Correcaminos and has been professionalized with the entry of the Trinidad Alfonso Foundation, which includes architecture, logistics, production, security… which is where the update can be seen.” , defending the managing director of the athletics club.

The world record, the great goal of a sustainable test

Botella indicates that the aspiration is “to break the world record in men, women or in both cases, but it is not the only one.”

“We want to stay for eternity in the Himalayan mountain range of great marathons,” said Valencian, highlighting that the test “looks like a race like London, Tokyo, Berlin or New York to the eye,” but what he wanted was to “continue there, in that mountain range, and remain for many years.”

He commented that València “is in that mountain range, but now the difficult thing is to stay,” while explaining that “it is difficult to point to a single factor” for the explosion of the event: “Not only the quality , the number of participants or the record of the circuit, as well as the ability to overcome and involve an entire city.”

In this regard, the Councilor for Sports of Valencia, Rocío Gil (PP), explained that almost 70% of the municipal government is involved in the test: “The city stopped for the marathon. Departments of Tourism are involved, to receive the runners; urban planning; comprehensive water cycle; of Sports, or of parks and gardens so that the trees are well trimmed.”

“This is a city event“, concluded the councilor, indicating that “it is not about parties”, because there is a device of almost 3,000 people, including 2,300 volunteers, a hundred people for cleaning, two field hospitals or 31 ambulances, which must be directed .

This is not a specific event just for this decade

“The goal is to make it a great party,” highlights the managing director of Correcaminos.with the aim, he says, that “the marathon continues to give visibility to Valencia and Spain” and that “the name of Valencia continues to be associated with athletics”, in addition to continuing to be sustainable.

According to the economic impact report from the Valencian Institute of Economic Research, the organization allocated a total of 5.8 million euros to the celebration of the 2022 edition, while the tourist expenditure was 26.85 million, so for Every euro spent generated 4.6 euros of impact.

In addition, of the 5.8 million costs associated with the organization, 41% were financed by sponsors48% with registrations and only 11% derived income from public institutions.

With these data, Botella himself affirms that this is “not a one-off event for this decade,” but instead he hopes that this competition will become “something as real as the city of Valencia like Fallas.”

2011, the year that changed everything

Juan Miguel Gómez, director of the Trinidad Alfonso Foundation, explained that 2011 was the main year for the entry of Juan Roig as a collaborator of this event. In that edition, there were 3,000 runners who participated in the event and, since then, according to Rocío Gil, the indicators have increased by 2,300% in everything related to the Marathon.

Gómez emphasized that the president of Mercadona saw the start of the Marathon that year, which certainly changed its starting point on the Monteolivete bridge: “And he was surprised to see the wonderful start that reminded him of New York marathon, because “So we started studying what this marathon is about and the Trinidad Alfonso Foundation was born to be a collaborator in 2012.”

“The marathon has an economic impact of 27 million in direct tourist spending, with more than 300 channels so that Valencia can be seen in many countries and with 57% of foreign runners. These are data that support that the marathon is the reference event for this city,” said Gómez.

So, he emphasizes that the goal is to “continue to grow steadily,” because these are “not random data” and the test “is not about power without balance, but about sustainable growth in infrastructure and hotel capacity.”

When asked about the ‘cap’ of this event, which will bring together 33,000 runners this Sunday, Botella said that “maybe there is a little margin, but we have to be responsible and, if it is expanded a little more, it will be done in steps. “safe”, the same security where each of the 33,000 ‘runners’ summoned at 8:15 in the morning next to the Ciiutat de les Arts i les Ciències de València will support their shoes.