Bekele and Hiwot won at Mitja de Granollers

Granollers, Les Franqueses and The Garriga again vibrated to the sound of the steps of more than 9,000 runners participated in the true running festivalwith races with adapted distances for athletes to participate elites, celebrities, children, the elderly and people with disabilities.

It is a sporting and inclusive weekend where in this edition Mitja became the first autism-friendly race on the state calendar.

In a purely competitive field, Bekele Demoz has been the winner of the 38th edition of La Mitjawith a time of 1:00’34. The race started with a group of six athletes in the leading group, who crossed kilometer 5 together.

The veteran Josphat Kiprono Menjo was left before the middle of the race from the group that will fight for the final victory: Kibet Gilbert, the favorite, Kipyeco Kennedy, Aferdi Abderrahmane, Cheryout Alfred and Bekele Demoz himself.

The Ethiopian athlete picked up the pace and, with two kilometers to go, he was left alone in the lead achieve his first victory in Granollers and lower his previous personal best achieved in Lisbon (1:03’05) in two and a half minutes and leave it at 1:00’34. In second place, Kibet Gilbert crossed the finish line (1:00’53), while third place was occupied by Aferdi Abderrahmane (1:01’08).

Bekele Demoz, after crossing the finish line, commented that “I am very tired. I gave it my all from the start to achieve my personal best and I’m very happy to have achieved it.. Furthermore, I was able to win in Granollers, something that makes me happy. I felt really good on the second part of the circuit. At first, it was a bit windy, but I trained hard to get here well and I’m happy with the result.”

Mehari Hiwotin its part, is the winner in La Mitja, with a time of 1:08’07. The Ethiopian followed in the footsteps of local pacer Artur Bossy to reach the finish line alone with a huge advantage over his rivals. Ayalew Testgest is in second position with 1:09’43 and Naga Asmarech is the third athlete under 70 minutes (1:09’45). Tesget and Hiwot imposed their speed from the first kilometers and escaped from the rest.

But in the second part of the race, the change of pace of the latter could not be followed by Tesget, so Mehari Hiwot achieved victory in his debut.

To Mehari HiwotThe victory was not easy despite the advantage at the finish line. Tesget was very strong, but he fell and that meant I couldn’t fight for the victory. Today the day was not very easy, because it was a bit windy on the climb, but the public helped me a lot”

Races adapted for all types of public

With 10 degrees of temperature and some wind against the first part of the circuit and in favor of the second, at 9:30 the gun was fired at 10k and El Quart de la Mitja race (5K).

Naa 10Kis Pol Espinosa who crossed the line in first position (30’49), with more than a minute ahead of Jaume González (32’07) and Bilal Ziadi (32’23). In the female category the winner Maite Rios (38’31) just over a minute ahead of Anna Visa (39’36), while Nidial Zulma completed the podium (39’39).

In the distance of 5K, Paul Fernandez He beat Pau Portet (17’20) and Miquel Pedrosa (17’30) in 17’11. As for the women, Kitija Valtere was the winner, in less than 20 minutes (19’32). Second place went to Esther Cruz (19’56), while third place in the box was completed by Natalia Giménez (20’25).

The Paralympic athlete Jordi Madera He didn’t want to miss the half marathon in his city and finished 21 kilometers in 50’40. Jordi used the test as preparation for his main goal for this season: to qualify for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

Children and tomorrow

In addition to the running races for adults, which took place on Sunday, this year the children’s races were held again on Saturday. More than 1000 women and men, between one and 13 years old, enjoyed a fun day of sports on age-adapted circuits, from 50 to 1,500 meters. While more than 200 people participated in the Open, a non-competitive race where disabled people walk and accompany disabled people so they can also enjoy their sports day.

The unity Mitja

In 2024, Mitja became the first autism-friendly race on the state calendarthanks to the collaboration of the TEA Vallès Oriental entity and the La Mitja Sports Association. This initiative aims to create a society that is more friendly to diversity and to claim that everyone should enjoy leisure and sports.