Urko Herrán and Nerea Egia, winners of the 44th edition of Media de Vitoria

Urko Herrán and Nerea Egia, winners of the 44th edition of Media de Vitoria. The man from Vitoria fulfills the forecasts and repeats the 2021 triumph while the woman from San Sebastián wins the title in her debut in the Vitoria race

Nearly 2,200 athletes toured the streets of Vitoria in an edition that definitely forgot the Covid restrictions that marked the 2021 edition in which Urko Herran and Onditz Iturbe took victory.

Despite the low temperatures since morning, around 5 degrees and the wind, the day showed flashes of autumn light that accompanied the athletes during the 21,097 kilometers. In this edition, the same route was repeated as last year, starting from Portal de Lasarte and arriving at the Mendizorroza car park, the most central circuit, closest to the public and with up to six steps along Avenida de Gasteiz was also to the taste of a large public who wanted to accompany the runners with that habitual spirit that is already part of the athletic events in the capital of Álava.

Urko Herrán dominated the race from start to finish. He along with Pablo Benito second and Javi Pérez formed a group from kilometer 10 that was the one that shared the podium at the finish line.

In girls, Nerea Eguía from San Sebastian took victory after a second part of the test with better feelings. The Biscayan Ainara Uribarri who dominated in the first kilometers has arrived in second position. Pilar Fernández, from Madrid from the La Blanca club, completed the podium.

What does seem immovable, despite the passage of time, is the record for the race in both the male and female categories. Nieves Zarza got her best time in 1999 with 1:17.45 and since then no woman has come close to that time. For his part, Iván Fernández in 2012, established a good mark of 1: 03.51 that is still valid and with no sign of being able to be lowered.

The test was also championship of Euskadi and Álava. Herrán is carried by both txapelas. Nerea Eguia bears the Basque title and Arrate Mintegui, the provincial txapela.

The Álava athletics federation, organizer of the event, wanted to pay tribute to two people who have already passed away who have been important in Álava athletics. On the one hand, José María García, statistician of the federation and Mertxe Bikandi, habitually responsible for the provisioning of kilometer 10 in the Half Marathon for many years. Both have passed away in this 2022.