Sunday, January 11, 2026, 18:38
The Euskadi cross country championship, the highlight of the Basque winter season, ended this Sunday morning with a double for the Real Sociedad athletes in the absolute categories. The Las Balsas de Ortuella circuit witnessed an overwhelming dominance by Ekain Larrea and Miren Martín Aramburu, new talents from the Basque background who dealt a blow to the table to place a new generation at the head of the championship.
Only Urko Herrán tried to stand up, but the cross-country event in the men’s category has become a matter of brothers. The Larreas, from the Guipuzcoan town of Antzuola, have placed their surname in the last two editions of the Euskadi championship. Last year, on a very muddy circuit in Oiangu (Ordizia), Ibai Larrea was the best. This Sunday, it was time to hand over the Basque cross country throne to his brother Ekain, who at 23 years old signed an incontestable victory in the fields of the mining circuit.
The same thing happened in the women’s category, where the former runner for the Universidad de León and now at La Real, gave the San Sebastian club a historic double. At 26 years old, she beat 24-year-old Oihane Irusta from Biscay in the second part of the competition. Far away, Onditz Iturbe brought a classic flavor to the women’s event by taking the podium as third place.
A day with a classic cross country flavor was expected after the rains of the last week and so it was, although the Las Balsas circuit did not leave the spectacular images of three years ago in an unforgettable Spanish championship due to the water and mud that accumulated there. This Sunday you could run and the leaders of the men’s event demonstrated it well.
At the start the competition train was very high, with Urko Herrán who wanted to hurt his rivals. The problem for the Alava long-distance runner, winner of the Vitoria half marathon, is that in his wake he had a very dangerous group of athletes. His effort hurt the current champion, but there was Ekain to defend the family’s honor, who stuck to the Alava’s back while Joseba Diaz also tried to keep up with the lead.
The test was decided when Ekain Larrea wanted it. A change of pace with two laps – of the five that had to be completed for 7.5 kilometers – was enough to put dirt and mud in the way. They did not see him again, to the point that he surpassed Herrán by 23 seconds at the finish line, with Diaz completing the podium and dethroned champion, Ibai Larrea, fourth. Johanes Goitisolo, sixth, was the best Biscayan athlete.
Superiority
Minutes later it was the turn of the Basque athletes, where Ainhoa Sanz defended the throne and the presence of a generation that this Sunday had very little to do against younger athletes like those who fought for victory. It was the Biscayan Irusta who was the most feisty, the one who put the most effort into breaking the race in the first half, but she was well marked by Martín Aramburu who better measured the distance and strength to seal the championship in the last two laps. At the finish line, 45 seconds separated the first two finishers, with Iturbe third at 1.13.
