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What moves two young people from Blanes to leave everything to create a race that crosses the Pyrenees?

BarcelonaThe music was playing at full volume this morning in Ribes de Freser. There was no one who did not have a smile carved on their face. Some jumped, others danced, but all were waiting for Jordi and Tomàs, the masters of ceremonies. 70 runners had been waiting all year for the great event that will allow them to cross the Catalan Pyrenees in a race of 240 km and 15,000 m of positive gradient divided into seven stages. As if the feat was not spectacular in itself, they will do it with their own, since the Pyrenees Stage Run is run by teams of two or three people. The dream of two amateur runners and their desire to create an experience has resulted in a unique adventure. And they have already given the starting shot.

Tomàs Llorens was the first instigator of this madness that has crossed borders. “We met in the Blanes cross-country group, which is the town’s running group. That’s when I noticed the Transalpine Run, a 7/8 race that crosses the Alps in which the organizers set up everything for you I looked to see if this could be done in the Pyrenees and I told Jordi and he told me to go ahead, let’s do it,” he recalls. The decision was easy. Both wanted to make a turn in their lives. Tomàs, a doctorate in biotechnology, and Jordi, a graduate in business administration and management, felt a sadness inside that this project soothed.

“I planted myself in 2014 with a child and life done. And I thought: “Now do I have to be like this for the rest of my life?” Due to my nature, it is very difficult for me to be locked in an office and when Tomàs came to tell me this, the sky opened up for me. It was now or never. We were clear that this had to work, but we had the unconsciousness and the illusion of doing it equally,” admits Jordi Vissi. By the time they made up their minds to embark on this adventure, the vertigo was almost nil. The excitement and the conviction that it had to turn out well pushed them to devote all their efforts to it. Now, when they look with the perspective of where they came from, the jump seems much higher. “The vertigo at first was relative. Now you realize it, when you look back and think: ‘Wow, did I jump from here? Did we do all that?’ We were always very aware that this was something we had to do. Everything in this life involves a risk. You don’t know if you don’t take it, and luckily we took it together. Holding hands is easier to jump than not alone,” confesses Jordi to the ARA.

Departure from the PSR this Sunday.

When the decision was made, it was necessary to know where to start. There were mistakes, we learned from these mistakes and now the race that started this Sunday in Ribes de Freser has become an experience that combines passion for the mountains, competition and tourism through spectacular scenery. “It is very different from doing a town race or a one-day race. There is added complexity, and that is that the PSR is a stage race with a linear route. The ones in Spain have a base point and from there the runners are taken to different places in the territory. What we do is to leave one end of the Pyrenees and go to the other end, passing through Andorra in two stages”, radiographs Tomàs, who ‘mainly in charge of the organizational part of the competition.

Between the two of them they do everything. The management of runners and volunteers, accommodation, marking and unmarking of the route, arrivals and departures, communication between the organizers, permits from the natural parks… “People don’t see this and ask us what the hell we’re doing the whole year [riu]. It’s non-stop!” explains Tomàs with a smile from ear to ear. The whole year is dedicated to making these days unforgettable for both runners and volunteers, an essential part of the PSR. “A volunteer who comes to our race doesn’t win anything, but he doesn’t pay anything in ten days,” encourages Tomàs.

Runners, on the other hand, as usual, have to pay for their registration. The test can be experienced in different ways depending on the runner’s choice when registering. If the team chooses the pack complete, in which the organization takes care of everything, you will have to pay €1,250 per person. The options are varied until you reach the pack basic, which includes registration and dinner each day – a very special moment, the organizers admit – and which starts at €750 per person.

“We like to set everything up with faces and eyes. There is a briefing upon arrival, the delivery of material, the check-in of the hotels… Every day we want to set up an outing as if it were a normal, running race, we don’t go there and say: “Oh, let’s run!” Then, an arrival as God commands with a physiotherapy service and refreshments for lunch and rest”, confesses Jordi about a race that brings together runners from all over Europe. Germans, Danes, Dutch… Up to 15 nationalities have gathered in Ribes de Freser to undertake this adventure.

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