Almodóvar del Río (Córdoba) recovered the epic of water and mud most typical of the north for the Spanish cross country championship. The quote … Andalusian rescued images that recalled that spectacular Ortuella National Championship three years ago to celebrate the efforts of all the competitors in a very demanding course and where two athletes from the north won, the Navarrese Nassim Hassaous and the Asturian Isabel Barreiro.
Born in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, living in Tudela since he was three years old and now residing in Laguna de Duero (Valladolid), Hassaous found the reward for so many years of work with a resounding victory on the mud. Hassaous had already explained last week at the Muguerza Memorial that the Cordoban event was his great objective for the winter season. After debuting in the marathon at the end of November in Valencia with 2.08:44, he had been one of the standouts in the cross-country season and in Almodóvar del Río he was the one who best adapted to the terrain conditions.
He got rid of his rivals throughout the 8,741 meters of competition to win with a time of 28.23, ahead of Dani Arce from Burgos (28:59) and Zakaria Boufaljat, from Andalusia, who registered 29:04. «I am very happy. It is the first Spanish cross country champion title, one of the toughest disciplines in athletics and reaffirms the good work we are doing,” declared Hassaous.
In the women’s category, Isabel Barreiro celebrated the title with rage, that rage accumulated after two complicated seasons that had kept the Asturian from her best performance. Spanish Champion in 2023, hip problems complicated her that summer and the next, leading her to resign from the 2024 European Championship in Rome due to injury and burying her chances of being in the Paris Games.
The woman from Gijón, already in her best version this winter season, made regional athletics by becoming the first Asturian long-distance runner to win the absolute title in the Spanish Cross Country Championship. Only Rocío Ríos, whose track record credits her as one of the best Spanish distance runners of all time, had been very close to winning the national cross country center, after finishing second in the 2002 and 2003 editions.
But the distance runner trained by Carlos Rionda arrived in full condition after being the best Spanish in the Muguerza Memorial and did not miss the opportunity. After the first round, the duo formed by the Castilian-Leonese Claudia Corral and the Asturian Isabel Barreiro stood out.
In the penultimate lap, Barreiro took a few meters ahead of Romero and Corral, the latter somewhat off the lead from the Balearic Islands. The positions remained unchanged in the penultimate and last laps: Isabel Barreiro, Andrea Romero and Claudia Corral. Finally, the Asturian was splendidly proclaimed Spanish cross country champion.
Ekain Fernandez, fourth
Regarding Basque participation, the results were better on Saturday than yesterday. The best place was that of Ekain Fernández in the sub’18 category, while in the sub’16 category, Garazi Alzola was seventh. Yesterday, the best Basque representative was Ander Aramendi in the sub’23 category, being tenth.
