Albacete hosts the Spanish Road Mile, 5k and Half Marathon Championships

Route specialists have an unmissable appointment this weekend in Albacete as the town of La Mancha organizes Spanish Road Mile, 5k and Half Marathon Championshipswhich since last year have been held jointly as the World Athletics Championships of these distances.

On Saturday the event begins with the celebration of two short trials, the Mile and the new 5k on the road. These two events will be full, while the Half Marathon that will take place on Sunday will be a full and master competition.

The starting signal for the Men’s Mile will take place at 6:45 pm and the women’s Mile 15 minutes later, to separate the two categories.

Mile on the route

Mile on the Road will celebrate the 13th edition of the championships. The competition of 1,609 meters It will be a round trip with only two 180° turns and a slight climb in the last 100 meters.

In the men’s category, the defending champion Abderrahman El Khayami will contend and with him the 2022 champion, Paul Sanchez and double champion in 2017 and 2018 as now international hurdler Victor Ruiz. Andalusian Pablo Sánchez was also second after El Khayami last year in Santander and the podium was completed by Pablo Bravo, who was absent from Albacete as he was recovering from an injury. Khayami will fight his brother Abdelmonaimand the Galician Hugo Garciafourth last year, will also contend.

In women, the champion, Marta Pérez, or her two companions on the podium in 2023 will not appear: Rosalía Tarraga and Judith Otazua, and the fourth classified will be there, Carla Masipwho has the best personal record in the 1,500 meters of all registrants. We will have to consider two more female specialists in the 800 meters such as Andrea Rodríguez and Lucia SantamaríaBoth athletes from the Valencian Community. Raquel Echevarria and the youth Marta Mitjans and Carla Jimenezthey will be other important women in the race.

5k

The 5k, with only two editions to be held, will run in the urban center of the capital of La Mancha, in a loop, with almost no complex turns and in a very flat profile, except for the last meters before reaching the finish line , as occurs in Mile.

In the men’s 5k, Moratalaz from Madrid, Jesus Ramos He will defend his title in La Mancha and another Spanish champion will follow him, but in this case Milla, in 2014, David Palacio. One of the great opponents for success with Ramos is the Aragonese Eduardo Menachowho was European under-23 10,000 meters champion a few years ago, who this summer gave his overall record a real boost by being runner-up in Spain in the 10,000 meters in March, fourth in the 5,000 meters and being in the European Championship from Rome.

The Andalusian Claudia Estevezthe best of the registered brands at this distance stand out from the youngsters Queralt Criado, Maria Valero and Angela Vicious who seem to be the top contenders to fight for medals.

Half marathon

The 21,097 meters of Albacete, as we have already said, has been the venue for the Spanish Half Marathon Championship in 2003 and 2016, but today’s circuit is different from those two editions. The participants, who by the way in this competition will be full and master, because both Spanish championships will be held, are among the 3,000 total participants that this edition will have. XXVII Albacete Half Marathon.

The runners from the Spanish championship will be located at the front of the start, with the international highlights of the event and will have a joint start, with a large mass of famous riders leaving them.

In the masculine inscription it draws the attention of Jesus Ramosalready mentioned in the 5k, but the Madrid native has already told us that he will fully compete in the 5k and in the Half Marathon he will come out to accompany a training partner. Yago Rojo, the Olympic marathoner who won last year, will be absent.

Among those registered is a whole Spanish fund institution of the last decade such as Javier Guerrawho this year competed in the half marathon at the European Championships in Rome, which was his last performance with the Spanish team. “Guerrita” was champion of Spain in 2016 and 2017 and this year he ran 1:02:30. Other current international starting marathon runners Jorge Blanco (1:02:02 this year) and the big surprise of the European Championship and best Spanish there (11th), the Extremaduran Jorge Gonzalez (1:01:55).

Since the championship is also held by teams (the times of the first three runners of each team are added), we find the best Moroccan registration score Aferdi. The Atletismo Novés athlete was the first to be classified in Santander last year, along with the Kenyan Peter Kariuki behind him, a runner defending Atletismo Albacete and also running this year. And the other big names in the release are Roberto Alaizthe Spanish 5k champion in 2022, Xavier Badia, Raul Cella, Arthur Bossy, José Ignacio Giménez, Paul Sanchezthe Spanish 10k champion in 2019, Jesus Angel Olmos and the most successful athlete in the Spanish championships, the man from La Mancha Juan Antonio “Chiqui” Perezwhich will have extra motivation to run so close to your home.

In the championship of the Spanish Master, we will see some well-known figures of Spanish athletics led by a stubborn, in his category M45, Reyes Estevezwho competed on Sunday the 24th in the Madrid International Mile among elite athletes, performing well. is also registered Carlos Castillejo and the Spanish-Argentine Miguel Angel Barzola.

The women’s competition, despite the absence of champion Laura Luengo, presents a cast of high-level athletes, led by the Ibero-American 5,000 meters champion, the Madrid native. Laura Priego. The one from Alcorcón will make his debut at this distance after his best summer that ended in the 10,000 meters of European outdoor competition. Laura’s partner at Bilbao Atletismo is the veteran Azucena Diazwe can say that she has retired from high-level athletics, but still competes in both cross country and road very close to women. Azucena has three full Half Marathon gold medals (2009, 10 and 12). The Spanish Cross Country champion in 2022, Carla Gallardois another woman making her debut at the distance, with 33:54 in the 10k on the road as a reference this year. The Burgos Lydia Campo He took his mark in 1:11:37 in January in Seville and fourth at the Spanish championships in Santander, and is certainly another contender for everyone. Foreign athletes Kaoutar Boulaid (Morocco) and Carolyne Jepchumba (Kenya), both from Bilbao Atletismo, will certainly have a lot to say about the outcome of the championship.

XXX Spanish Masters Half Marathon Championship

Albacete hosts the 30th edition of this Half Marathon master championship, whose first edition took place in Burgos in 1995 and was already held in Albacete in 2013.

This time, 498 athletes were admitted to the competition, of which 383 were men and 115 were women. Only Santa Pola, in 2016, exceeded this figure with 576 registered. Note that, in the absence of the three master individual championships that will remain held: Multiple (Mile, 10,000 m and Combined), Ultra Trail and 10 km Walk, the 5,000 master athletes who aimed to attend the various championships have already been exceeded. for the first time from Spain master all year.

For this occasion, regarding the registered women we can mention as the most outstanding athletes Tamara Pérez F35, Azucena Díaz F40, Lucía Morales F45, Arancha Tejero F50 (these last two were last year’s champions ), María López F55, M.ª José Hidalgo F60, Magdalena Vila F65 and Milagros Álvarez F75.

And among men, the numbers to follow correspond to the names of Juan Antonio Pérez M35, Javier Guerra M40, Reyes Estévez M45, winner in 2023 and in good condition at present, Óscar Fernández M50, Miguel Ángel Plaza M55, Miguel Ángel Encina M60, Manuel Suárez M65, Román Morales M70 and Antonio Jurado M75. Not forgetting the Santander 2023 champions, who will also be on the starting line, Jesús A. Olmos M35, Jaouad Boulame M40, Eduardo P. Verdú M50, Josu Ronda M55, Salvador Martínez M65, Pablo Fervenza M70 and Ángel L. Rodríguez Sa men, all winners in 2023 will come from the game except the M60 category.