El Vendrell in Catalonia hosted yesterday the championship of Spain of the 50km reached the 87th edition.
Alongside some races for the U20 and U18 on the 10km as well as for the Masters (Master Championship of 20km) and for the U16.
50km men
The 2km circuit of the 87th championships of 50km in Spain was on Palfuriana Avenue, in the Maritime Barrios de El Vendrell, departure and arrival at the Plaza de la Lluna.
Definitely the test was a bit chaotic, with the athletes who competed for the title more detached and with the participation of the masters for their 20km championship.
The departure of the U20 and U18 men and women who competed on the 10km meant that there was a tangle of athletes on the track: nice to see for the amount of participation (given the moment that lives race walking).
Miguel Angel Lopez was in the lead right from the start, but his was a test that had to end at 30km having decided to do a test on this distance.
With 69% humidity and 10° Celsius, the Murcia athlete who had been the 50km champion of Spain in 2015 and in 2016 set a pace that nobody dared to follow.
His split times were as follows:
- 10km in 42:08
- 20km in 1:24:06 (seconds 10km in 41:58)
When Miguel Angel stops at 30km (2:07:15), the Ibiza athlete Marc Tur (ESP), the current champion, followed by Benjamín Sánchez (ESP) and, further back, the stainless Jesus Angel Garcia Bragado who was stroking the podium at the venerable age of 49.
At this point, however, Ivan Pajuelo, with a great comeback, progresses to second place.
His return seemed not to leave the podium to the legendary Jesús Ángel García, world champion in 1993, but the judges found irregularities in the walk of Pajuelo, who was forced to stop five minutes in the Penalty Area and the "grandfather" the Spanish walk regained the podium, being 49 years old.
Victory then for Marc Tur (ESP) in 3:54:51
Second place to Benjamin Sanchez (ESP) in 3:56:15
Third place to Jesus Angel Garcia Bragado (ESP) in 3:57:23
Fourth place for Ivan Pajuelo (ESP) in 3:59:44 who is the last of the athletes to get off at 4:00:00
But it is interesting to note that eleven athletes they completed the 50km, while at the start they were twenty-five.
50km women
The women's race, which was only valid for the second time as the Spanish Championship, initially saw the two 20km specialists Maria Perez and Mar Juárez in the lead,
Maria Perez passed 10km in 48:51, and curiously walked in the group of García Bragado, who was world champion 26 years ago (in Stuttgart in 1993), when Perez was not born yet.
Bragado and Maria Perez competed together for up to 30 km, when the test was completed for the Granada athlete.
The athlete of Barcelona Raquel Gonzalez (ESP), winner of the Spanish title of 20km in Spain in 2015, remains at the head of the 50km race, nevertheless she was at the inaugural race on the maximum distance.
Behind her Maria Larios (ESP) and Andrea Kovacs (HUN), while Julia Takacs, already selected for the European Cup decided to withdrawn.
Rachel Gonzalez (ESP), who trains this year in Madrid in the group of Jose Antonio Quintana, covered the last few kilometers at a speed of five minutes and finished the race in great pace with the fifth best mark in the world of the history of female 50km (4:11:01).
The Catalan thus establishes the new record of Spain dethroning Julia Takacs who last year had established it in these same championships in 4:13:04.
Second place for Maria Larios (ESP) in 4:48:54
They are the only two to reach the finish line as Andrea Kovacs (HUN) will also abandon.
Below the updated list of the 2019 season of first five athletes in 50km