Arahal, a small town in Spain of about 20,000 inhabitants, at seventy kilometers southeast of Seville, hosted the Andalusian Road Walk Championships today.
Arahal came to the fore on 29.11.2017 when in his area a passenger train of the Malaga - Seville line derailed with 35 injured people, 3 of whom were very serious. At the time, it is hypothesized that the derailment would have been the consequence of a long series of storms that had fallen with flooding in the area.
The "Marcha en Ruta Ciudad de Arahal Grand Prix" was also combined with the Andalusian Championship over various distances, including the athletes of the master and youth categories.
As usual we will take care of the upper categories (excluding the Masters) up to U16 which took place on the following distances at the following times:
- 11:00: 20km senior (1999 and earlier) men and women, but only master athletes competed
- 11.35: 10km senior, U23, U20, U18 men and women
- 13:00: 5km U16 (2005-2006) men and women
10km men
Only three athletes at the start.
Undisputed and easy victory for the local idol who competes for Juventus de Guadiz.
Luis Alberto Amezcua Balboa (ESP) has no difficulty in winning in 40:19 (at a pace of 4:01/km). We remember that Amezcua boasts a personal best of 39:30 obtained in San Fernando (ESP) on 4.2.2017.
Second place to Luis Manuel Perez Osorio (ESP) in 51:08
Third place to Jesus Lena Caceres (ESP) in 55:14
10km women
Only two athletes at the start
Victory for the local idol Maria Perez Garcia (ESP) in 43:40 (at a pace of 4:22/km) which also establishes the new personal best. The precedent of 46:06 had been established in San Fernando (ESP) on 4.2.2017. However, the Spanish champion boasts the time of 43:52.08 set in La Nucia (ESP) on 1.9.2019 over the distance of 10,000m track walk, so this result of Arahal represents her absolute best performance over 10km and says a lot about his early season form.
Second place to Eva Gil Cabezas (ESP) in 66:53
10km U20 men
Also in this race only three athletes at the start.
Victory to Jose Luis Hidalgo Rodriguez (ESP) in 43:59 which touches the personal best of 43.57 established in La Coruna last 8.6.2019.
Second place to Alejandro Banasco Guillen (ESP) in 49:29
Third place went to Adrian Perez Cortes (ESP) in 51:13
10km U20 women
Also in this race only three athletes at the start.
Victory to Sofia Rodriguez Hernandez (ESP) in 50:07 new personal best (previous of 50:43 established in El Vendrell, ESP on 10.2.2019
Second place to Maria Teresa Morata Moreno (ESP) in 51:18
Third place to Eva Salcedo Sanchez (ESP) in 54:19
10km U18 men
Seven athletes at the start.
Victory to Pablo Rodriguez Rojas (ESP) in 45:17 in his first official 10km
Second place to Juan Francisco Soto Egea (ESP) in 45:53, new personal best (previous of 47:14 established in Oropesa del Mar, ESP on 17.3.2019)
Third place to Antonio Jesus Montilla Medina (ESP) in 51:09
10km U18 women
Eleven athletes at the start
Victory for Julia Lopez Marron (ESP) in 53:19 also for her new personal best (previous of 55:49 established in El Vendrell, ESP on 10.2.2019)
Second place to Cristina Pro Gonzalez (ESP) in 57:14
Third place to Alejandra Garrucho Moreno (ESP) in 59:54
In the U16, the races that saw the most athletes at the start, the victories over the distance of 5km went to:
- U16 boys: Pablo Postigo Gabarro (ESP) in 23:37
- U16 girls: Isabel Garcia Sanchez (ESP) in 24:38