The descent of Pico Espadán summarizes its homonymous mountain range: an inclined gap of precarious zetas with some planks that hold the broken stone and allow access between the cork oaks, the traditional sustenance of a place squeezed to the last drop for the extraction of cork. The mountains that fed Castellón in the harsh post-war period make one of the toughest trail circuits epic, the playground of the Marató dels Dements, a brutal 42 kilometers with 3,808 meters of positive slope, an inconsolable slope. The idea of four friends from Eslida, the town where it begins and ends, had its international recognition this Saturday as the venue for the final of the Merrell Skyrunning World Series, the unofficial World Cup of the wildest mountain.
“It is adapting mountaineering to a race,” summarizes the race director, Raúl Martínez. She was named this way in 2014 by her friends club, Dementes del Trail. Very vertical terrain, the traces that the Sierra de Espadán Natural Park allowed, points to be overcome by climbing or with the help of ropes or chains. His signature touch in one of the provinces with the most races in Spain. “The best thing about our mountains, that it was really hard. Any one of us has probably climbed the same mountain 15 different places.” Like someone who tries a recipe until they find the flavor. “There are many people who came to the first edition and said ‘I’m not going back there.’ And I almost prefer it. Here, you can run little. If you want to do a mountain marathon in less than four hours, there are others.” Because Dements’ focus is different. The idea that the mountaineer precedes the runner. “These are people who have greater sensitivity to protecting the environment.”
Thus they recovered lost trails, reviewing old maps for hours, routinely covering their legs from scratches from brambles, removing fallen rocks. Ivan remembers it with pride. The accesses used by his great-grandfather Gabriel, a forest ranger, recovered for his son, whom he named in his honour. “Maybe he wouldn’t be the best guy in the world, but he took care of the mountains like no one else.” The essential sustenance of the postwar. “Even from the last pine tree that fell they took firewood for the house. The exploitation was brutal.” And to access it, paths were needed, both in Eslida and in other municipal areas: Aín, Azuébar and Alfondeguilla. Although the neighbors now live more on tiles than on cork.
What a decade later is a deployment of 150 volunteers – those who guard Pico Espadán are surprised to see so many people – began with five members of the organization who survived the nighttime flood prior to the first edition. “Raining like there was no tomorrow, watching with the car at three in the morning.” Because the runoff overflows those precarious ravines. Its shadowy stones that have not yet dried and slide like hell. 600 runners already left then, the registration quota. Almost the same as the 650 of the ninth edition – those of 2020 and 2021 were not done due to the vulnerability of an aging population against covid – with 24 nationalities. Because after entering the Skyrunning World Series, a calendar with 20 events spread across 13 countries, this year decided the general and the 93,500 euros in prizes for the athletes in the top-10. “It is a culmination of the idea. “We always thought that one day the best runners could come here.”
Like Manuel Merillas, who lowered by 24 minutes the record he set when he won in 2019 and was third. That’s the level. The Leonese, winner of Zegama last year, was calculative and arrived at Espadán, at kilometer 25, in the first chasing group. He would hunt down Ruy Ueda, the Japanese who only understands tricks, went out with everything and finished fourteenth. And to Frederic Tranchand, the Frenchman who had to slow down when the cramps arrived at kilometer 30 and was fifth. But he couldn’t beat Roberto Delorenzi, the Swiss who not only won the race, but the circuit, with a stellar time of 4h45m48s. Merillas (4h47m16s) and Luca del Pero, second at 59s, cut him back in the last descents, but they couldn’t beat him and replicated the order of the final general classification in Eslida.
Anastasia Rubtsova fulfilled the prediction with a double victory among women, who also broke the clock. The Russian took command of a race that Oiahana Kortazar dominated at the start, until she ran into the wall, that of a course without respite. She won with 5h38m53s, followed by Julia Font, the girl from Alfondeguilla. “They are the mountains where I grew up. They have been able to give a lot of value to the area and holding a Skyrunning final here is a reward. She was running with a smile, the girl who started running and is now a professional. It was crazy, they carried me around.” An experience that he has used to his advantage. “I don’t care who I ran with, I was aware of my times.” He more than achieved his goal of going under six hours: 5h40m58s. And she was third overall.
He had already melted into an emotional hug with his father when he heard Oihana arrive. But that was not a procedure. Hillary Gerardi passed her in the final ravine, because not even the last kilometer is a walk. But there was a podium at stake and he found the strength to fight for it. Almost 4,000 meters of altitude difference to sprint, what torture. She regained her position on the straight, with a shout that could be heard from the finish line, and finished third (5h 56m 40s). “It’s the first time I’ve arrived and I have to get on the ground because I can’t take it anymore.” And few have more stamps in their passport than her. It is the bill of the insane.
