Valencia returns to the streets for its Marathon. 730 days have passed since the last time thousands of runners reached the finish line of the City of Arts and Sciences. The SD Correcaminos and the Trinidad Alfonso Foundation demonstrated their commitment to athletics and made an effort for professional runners with an Elite 2020 edition, which was brutal, although the Valencia Trinidad Alfonso EDP Marathon longed for the popular beat and Sunday will recover that essence with 15,865 participants.
“The Marathon is a great theater in which the main actors are the runners, and you will agree with me that this year we have already achieved the first record, which is none other than recovering the soul of the race, popular participation,” he said. Paco Borao, president of the SD Correcaminos and race director.
The best marathon in Spain, the fourth fastest in the world, aspires in its 41st to improve itself. The selectors Marc Roig and José Antonio Redolat have drawn up a list of international and national athletes with a view to breaking the record of the event, which today is saying a lot, and positioning themselves again among the three best marathons in history. The goal is for the winner to cross the finish line below 2h03: 00 (time achieved a year ago by Evans Chebet). Proof of the interest that the test has aroused is that the event can be seen in 207 countries and 386 television channels, that is, in 90 percent of the planet.
Among those chosen to such a feat, Atanaw (2h03: 51, winner of the 2019 edition), Cherono (2h: 03: 04, tenth best mark in history) and Kamworor (2:06:12, two-time champion in New York). And as it warns Marc roig, attentive to the rookies in the distance such as the Ethiopian Andamalah Belihu, with several Sox in 58 minutes. In the female category, Shone, Gebru, Chepkirui and newcomer Tuitoek are counted on to try to break the test record (2h17: 16, Jepchirchir, 2020, fifth best mark of all time).
Runners from 108 countries and a budget of 4.4 million
The Valencia Marathon figures confirm its globality. The streets will concentrate runners from 108 different countries. 39% of the 15,865 participants arrive from abroad and 27% of the nationals do so from outside the Valencian Community. France, Italy and the United Kingdom, obviously behind Spain, are the most represented countries. And two data that demonstrate the popularity that the Valencia test has acquired: 30% of the participants run this Marathon for the first time (16% are newcomers in the test, the same percentage of participating women).
Both Borao and the director of the Trinidad Alfonso Foundation, Juan Miguel Gómez, highlighted the difficulty of organizing the race in a year like this in which the census has been reduced and there has been a lot of uncertainty, despite which a budget of 4.4 million euros has been maintained (Contributions of 30 percent of registrations, 45 percent of Trinidad Alfonso Foundation, 18 percent of other sponsors, 5 percent of other income, and 2 percent of public institutions).
Juan Miguel Gómez acknowledged that “it has been a very complex year, in which we have had to adapt to the situation, to the census reduction and the casualties, but all my thanks to the sponsors who have not gotten off the ship. And our gratitude to the new brands that have joined this great Marathon family with those 35 companies represented ”.
Among the firms that have joined the best marathon in Spain stands out the entry of the multinational New Balance, the new technical sponsor of the race and which reaffirms its “commitment to Valencia because we consider it to be a marathon at the height of London or New York ”, as highlighted by Daniel Scheidgen, Marketing Director of the American firm for the peninsula.
Pilar Bernabé, Councilor for Sports of the Valencia City Council, co-organizer with SD Correcaminos, highlighted during the presentation that “València is consolidating itself as a sports destination thanks to the celebration of large events, like the Marathon that we will celebrate this Sunday. And I refer to the tests. Major sporting events, as long as they are sustainable, are a great opportunity and an essential contribution to the economic fabric of the city. We have lived and are experiencing difficult times with the Covid-19 health crisis, and the consequences it generates both from a health point of view and from an economic point of view. In Valencia, sports have not stopped practicing and sporting events have been held since this health crisis began, which has brought benefits for the local economic fabric “.
The winners will win a prize of 75,000 euros, more than 30,000 if they achieve a record of the test and 250,000 if they shatter those of the world, something that is not contemplated in this edition. The first Spanish man and woman will win 5,000 euros. There the shortlist of favorites are Ben Daoud (2:07:03), Rojo (2:09:59) and the rookie in the distance, Blanco; while in the female category: Elena Loyo (2h28: 25) and Irene Pelayo (2h30: 07).
