Four years ago (2018) in the context of the commemorative events of the town’s 750th anniversary, the City Council decided to include in the program the celebration of the ‘Ordiziako mendi maratoia’ event, which reissued that race, which, 50 years later , as a challenge, faced in 1968, Ignacio Eskitsabel and Juanito Rubio, who without knowing it could be the protagonists of the first mountain marathon, strictly speaking, disputed in Euskadi, of which there is reference and testimony.
The unforgettable Kifi, who experienced that social event first-hand, places it in the context of the ‘gambling fever’ that was very common in the town during the last century.
In days when bicarbonate cured everything; if not, bad. There was no television, and in which no one had heard of physiotherapy, authentic wonders of nature and elements that did not lack a point of daring, they were the parsley of challenges that very few picked up. Context in which Kifi himself names Jesús Munduate, who on August 17, 1935 accepted the challenge of completing the route, Ordizia, San Miguel, Ordizia, leaving the town at night; specifically at 11:48 p.m., having to return before 1:00 p.m. Jesús Munduate, together with Pedro Murua, who accompanied him, arrived in San Miguel at 6:15, from where after hearing mass and having lunch, they undertook the return, a challenge that he barely achieved by showing up at the arrival at 12:55.
“A super feat”
Kifi does not forget Juan José Rezola and his feat of 1953, of which the Olano bar, Ordizia, Txindoki, Ordizia bears witness in three hours. Achievement that Kifi describes as a “super feat”. Overview of things, in which he places the test at hand.
The chronicles review that the spark was unleashed one good day in 1968, late at night, in a social temple of the time; the Madrid bar. As always, with the forced and initiatory ‘yes or no’, and she was already involved. The ‘yes’, was none other than a race starting from the hermitage of Larraitz bound for the basilica of San Miguel, crossing Aralar, and returning.
On the one hand, Ignacio Eskitsabel, 42 years old, on the other, Juanito Rubio, 21 years old. Given the age difference, the chef gave his veteran rival an hour’s head start. Ignacio Eskitsabel took the street bet.
In his story, Kifi presents Ignacio Eskitsabel as a veteran, setalari and trout fisherman. “May 20, 1968,” he writes. “Never had a challenge been awakened from such an environment. A hive of people filled not only Larraitz but most of the route.
Despite the hour margin, both contenders started at the same time. “They leave at seven in the morning, and Rubio arrives at the shacks at 7:31 and Eskitsabel at 7:35.20,” says Kifi. Around Alotza, at 7.49 Rubio and at 7.55.30 Ignacio». In Igaratza, the difference is only 12 minutes.
«Back in the shacks, Juanito arrives at 11:16 and Ignacio at 11:37. In front of the Oria fountain; 11.20 and 11.40 respectively. In the revolt at Larraitz 11:29 and 11:51, and on arrival, Rubio at 11:47.3 and Eskitsabel at 12:37.45. So Juanito, at the age of 21, set a mark of 4 hours, 47 minutes and 3 seconds. Ignacio did it in 5 hours 3 minutes and 45 seconds. Eskitsabel had 44 minutes left over from the hour advantage that he had granted him ».
Together with Ignacio Eskitsabel, his nephew José Mari González Baztarrika ‘Che’, who at the age of 18 accepted his uncle’s request to give him a cable. «Uncle Ignacio, his friend Juan José Rezola and I did the tour only once as preparation. The day of the test I accompanied him from Goardaetxe. Physically, the guy was one of a kind. The arrival in Larraitz was an authentic and massive spectacle» José Mari has always recounted.
brand succession
A challenge that gave a lot to talk about and that aroused the bug of the most restless willing to emulate the feat. Kifi recounts that just the following month, Francisco Zubeldia from Zaldibitara, beat Juanito Rubio’s record with 4h29 and that on July 14 of that same 1968, Paulino Velázquez pulverized him by completing the route in 3h29.
Well, in 2018, the City Council picked up the glove and called for the ‘Ordiziako mendi maratoia’ for teams on June 23, with a double option; departure from Larraitz to San Miguel (half marathon, 20km) or Larraitz, San Miguel, Larraitz (39km). 18 squads responded to the call.
The following year he reissued the initiative, although he introduced changes. The long test stretched the route up to 40 km, and the short one proposed, Larraitz, Igaratza, Larraitz. In any case, the proposal, by teams, did not come to fruition, which the following year; 2020, led him to propose the race as a half marathon; Larraitz, Igaratza, Larraitz, individual participation, and move the day of the competition to the month of October.
Despite being the year of the pandemic par excellence, the established participation of 200 bibs was completed. And last year the approach was the same but the participation barely reached a hundred bibs.
In the course of events, this 2022 arrives in which everything seems to indicate that the fifth edition of this mountain race will not be held, to which, apparently, the City Council wants to give it a twist, proof that it would have a start and finish in Ordizia, for which he considers the month of February of next year as the date of accommodation in the calendar.
