Definitely, Valencia is the ‘city of running’
Paula Radcliffe
––––––––––––––––
This Saturday at 8.30 am, just 24 hours before the start of the Valencia marathon, I entered the Turia riverbed in Valencia.
It was cold, so I was wearing gloves, a hat, and long leggings.
And as I ran, shivering in fright, I had thought about the 250 phenomena that this Sunday will face their rivals
(perhaps the best long-distance runners in the world in men and women, discounting the absent Eliud Kipchoge, Kenenisa Bekele and Joshua Cheptegei) to pursue his dream.
Because running in Valencia is today a dream:
– The selection has been painful. We had hundreds of requests. But the safety constraints were what they were, and that’s why we had to leave out extraordinary runners. They all wanted to come. Those who are there are the best – Marc Roig, coach of international athletes, said on the eve.
(…)
As soon as I stepped onto the red clay lane, in the old Turia riverbed, I felt the force of the current.
Dozens of runners went from here to there.
The visionary
Juan Roig, president of Mercadona, saw the light in 2011, when he thought of converting Valencia into a kind of New York of ‘jogging’
They were wearing Team Redolat uniforms. Or those of the Correcaminos Sports Society. Some ranged from ten to ten, even in larger groups. I crossed paths with youngsters and veterans, men and women.
All of Valencia was running, and Álex Heras, head of communication for Valencia City of Running and the city marathon, it offered me the data: the sensor on a bridge over the riverbed, strategically installed, counts the passage of 68,000 runners per month …
(…)
I finished traveling 11 km in 50 minutes.
He was never alone.
And when I returned, I went to tell Elena Tejedor, director of the Trinidad Alfonso Foundation, the umbrella of the Valencia marathon and the soul of the concept Valencia City of Running:
“I’m almost out of the tide!”
–Well that tide is our dream He answered me.
The map of the Valencia marathon, in a circuit that must be traveled twice (Servicio Ilustrado (Automatic) / EP)
And then he would tell me the story, the metamorphosis of the city.
In 2010, Valencia had decided to review its sports model. She looked orphaned: the America’s Cup was left behind and the F-1 GP project was breaking down.
Cristóbal Grau, Sports Councilor, was outlining the change, and then Juan Roig, Mercadona’s father, became enlightened.
–The City of Arts and Sciences was taking shape, Divina Pastora appeared as a great sponsor, the city flourished. And one morning, Juan Roig witnessed the start of the 2011 10K –says Elena Tejedor.
“And what did you see?”
–Saw thousands of runners stationed on the Monteolivete Bridge (work by Santiago Calatrava). And before that, Roig interpreted the photo: he thought of the New York marathon on the Verrazano Bridge. And we get involved.
The present
Every month, about 70,000 runners add kilometers in the old riverbed
Elena Tejedor remembers herself sitting before Paco Borao, director and alma mater of the marathon: listening to the wise man, she discovered the majors and he assimilated the concept of the marathon as the masterpiece of the long-distance race.
Then briefcase in hand is remembered, in the runner’s fairs of dozens of races, spreading the virtues of Valencia.
–In Prague, whose marathon was held at 2ºC, we told them that ours was around 20ºC. That we had the ideal weather, the flat orography and the riverbed. We invested two million euros in designing the river’s route (5K one way and 5K back, totally flat, tabulated every 100 m). No project has been cheaper for us! And of course, at this point it is more than amortized. The rest came rolled.
As new races appeared (10K in January, 15K at night …), the number of heads trotting past under the sensor of the bridge skyrocketed and the athletic prestige of Valencia, today the holder of world records for 10K on the road (Rhonex Kipruto) and the 10,000m for men (Joshua Cheptegei) and 5,000m for women (Letesenbet Gidey) on the track (of course, on the blue tartan track that rises in the heart of the riverbed).
–Although we still need the marathon record – Elena Tejedor says.
And then she smiles, excited.
Perhaps, this Sunday …
