And so, the Valencia Marathon: a month after the sinking are given | Sport

Runners who will take part in the Valencia Marathon on Sunday (8.15am, Vamos, Teledeporte and A-Punt) greet Keneniza Bekele after a presentation in which the Ethiopian, no one knows whether he is serious or joking, speaks at 42 years old. years old, who is still active because he still hopes, not in Valencia but perhaps next year, to break the world record. Earlier, sitting in white chairs next to Sisay Lemma, last year’s winner – on these streets he became the fourth fastest marathon runner of all time – who looks out at the crowd and waves his arms outstretched like a star, and Sebastian Save, a shy debutant hoping to surprise, Bekele says it is “very saddened” by what happened in Valencia and expresses its condolences to all the families affected by the damage.

All athletes remember the victims. And the popular Sarah Hall, a Californian blonde, another 41-year-old veteran who is about to run her fourth marathon in eleven months in Valencia before running off on a trip with her husband Ryan Hall – she’ll be giving him supplies – the only American marathon runner to it took less than two hours and five minutes to visit the Alhambra and climb Mulhacén, the peninsula’s highest peak (3,478 metres).

Juan Botella, race director and track and field enthusiast, gloats to Bekele, three-time Olympic champion, five-time World Cup winner and former 5,000- and 10,000-meter record holder, a day after he made a very serious case for the Valencia Marathon decision . “We never doubted for a second that this needed to be done. The race helps the image of Valencia, the restoration of the destroyed economy, tourism and trade. And it also helps all those affected. If it were possible to organize two marathons, we would do it.”

Botella made the announcement after this Friday’s race raised 80,000 euros, in addition to pledging to donate a further three euros for every athlete among the 35,000 registered – a figure that has not yet been reached by the marathon in Spain – who crosses the finish line on Sunday. .

The Valencia Marathon, a sporting event with fixed costs of over seven million euros, feeds 600 workers and 400 suppliers (75% Valencians). Botella reports that part of the money collected these days will go to help rebuild clubs, schools and sports facilities in the affected municipalities.

The organization offered 1,900 runners from the affected cities the opportunity to get their money back. About 1,100 people decided to maintain their numbers despite failing to receive adequate training and spending a month clearing dirt from their homes and the streets of their cities. There is no doubt that it will be a marathon of emotions. Before the first of nine departures, there will be a tribute to the victims and a minute of silence.

Then the shot will ring and Bekele, Lemma, Save, Daniel Matejko and Hillary Kipkoech, Lemma’s hare a year ago, and today another debutant from whom something big is expected, will go for victory with the idea of ​​completing a half marathon. in one hour and one minute. Then we’ll have to see if anyone can hold out and get below two hours and two minutes.

Ethiopia’s Megertu Alemu is the women’s favorite in a race in which the organization has experienced a dampening effect from Ruth Chepngetich’s world record at the Chicago Marathon a month and a half ago. The Kenyan set the women’s record of 2 hours, 9 minutes, 56 seconds, the closest she has ever been to the men’s record. “This brand is already difficult for some men. We have to be attentive to women because they have put themselves very close,” says Bekele.

The Spaniards will be a step below, but Carlos Maio and, above all, Majida Maayuf will carry out a tradition that threatens the national marathon record in Valencia. The Aragonese, who fell in love with athletics as a child when he traveled with his father Juan Carlos Mayo to see him run marathons in Madrid, San Sebastian, Berlin or Paris, where he managed to run in 2 hours 31 minutes, finally then debuts. on the course after an injury prevented him from making his debut a year ago, and after a serious car accident in which, despite flipping several times, he and his girlfriend emerged unharmed. Mayo, like Ibrahim Cakir, will also try to achieve the Tokyo World Championship minimum of 2 hours 06 minutes 30 seconds.

Maayuf will be running after his hare to try to reach the finish line in under 2 hours 21 minutes 27 seconds, a Spanish record he set on the same course a year ago. A little further along will be Laura Luengo of Extremadura, who is hoping to run under 2 hours 25 minutes 30 seconds for the first time, the minimum mark for the World Championships in Tokyo.