La Coruña is always fascinating, and returning is always something new. Even for someone like the writer, who has had La Coruña as a travel destination since 1994. I was only away for two years, but I soon made up for it with other “Cantones” visits for friends’ birthdays. Dear readers, some of my dearest friends were met in this beautiful port city on a promontory in Galicia, known for its stunning roman lighthouse (the Torre del Hercules), which offers a stunning panoramic view of the coast.
It was in this city that Sergio Vazquez, passed away four years ago, conceived the “Gran Premio Internacional Cantones de La Coruña” on May 16, 1987, at 7:00 PM, after a year of tireless efforts and equally demanding organisational work.
Floral tribute to Sergio Vazquez’s wife
A World Race Walking Cup (now World Team Race Walking Championships) was also held here in 2006, and I still have that extraordinary evening in my mind when Liu Hong set the world record for the 20km road walk at 8:24:37 PM in June 6, 2015.
All the greatest race walkers in history, both men and women, have passed through here, and it remains a beacon of excellence today, being the oldest meeting in the World Athletics Gold Race Walking Circuit. It is precisely for this reason that World Athletics honored the Gran Premio Internacional Cantones as a World Heritage Site for Athletics on March 29, 2019.
This year’s edition, after the one of Liu Hong’s world record, was the most exciting and the most impressive, thanks once again to a handful of beautiful female representatives. Local hero Antia Chamosa (ESP) took the lead until almost 14km, then Antonella Palmisano (ITA), Paula Milena Torres (ECU), Nanako Fujii (JPN), Kimberly Garcia Leon (PER), Yang Liujing (CHN), and Alejandra Ortega Solis (MEX) tried. No way, they won’t make it to the podium.
At 18km, last year’s first and second place finishers Maria Perez and Alegna Gonzalez remain, along with a newcomer tiny woman who burst into the walking elite at the World Team Race Walking Championships Marathon in Brasilia just over a month ago, where she took silver behind Paula Milena Torres.
From one side of the course, she can hear the shouts of her coach Alessandro Gandellini, who is also hopping around like a cricket. Meanwhile, I moved toward the finish line for some photos. I wonder what this tiny woman is doing between these two giants.
Incidentally, the night before the race, at dinner with friends, I was asked to bet a coffee at the airport the next morning on the winner of this Half Marathon: one friend of mine said Alegna, and I (frankly, I was thinking of Alegna, too) said Maria. When this bet came to mind then I thought again: what Sofia Fiorini is doing among them. As they pass, I see Sofia turn toward the barriers and hear shouts: “Stay with Alegna, don’t let she go, that’s where the race is.” I will never say who shouted, not even under torture.
The next lap, only two remain: Alegna and Sofia. Maria is a handful of seconds behind. I hear that croaking voice again, as if coming from a Dantesque pit, shouting: “Stay behind her” (actually, he used another term that fair play requires politely summarised). Now I realise that I’m watching two beautiful technical feats battle shoulder to shoulder. I already know I’ve lost my bet because Maria will never make it back. These girls are going too fast, and they’re walking too well, that no one judge will stop them. Impossible to stop this race walking !
The bell rings, and now two seconds separate the gorgeous Mexican walker from the tiny Italian.
“It’s not possible,” I say to myself. “I don’t believe it.” I can no longer hear the screams coming from the Dantesque pit.
I wait less than five minutes and then I see them arrive, one waiting for the other, and then they embrace.
Congratulations, Alegna, on your first victory at the Cantones.
Welcome, Sofia, on the Cantones podium. In a few days, you’ll understand that perhaps what you’ve achieved is almost as valuable as Inter’s shield.
World Athletics Profile of Alegna Gonzalez
World Athletics Profile of Sofia Fiorini
Photo Album by @juanferngran
