The Spanish Javi Guerra joins an elite participation led in the female category by Gelete Burka and Almaz Ayana
MADRID, 30 Mar. (EUROPA PRESS) –
Nearly 17,000 runners will participate this Sunday in the XXI Movistar Madrid Half Marathon and in the sixth edition of the 5.8-kilometre ProFuturo Race, the organizers announced this Wednesday at their official presentation at the Gallur municipal sports center.
The event in Gallur, which will host the corridor fair on April 1 and 2, was attended by the deputy mayor of Madrid, Begoña Villacís; Alicia Martín, General Director of Sports of the Madrid City Council; Fernando Benzo, general director of Sports of the Community of Madrid; Sofía Miranda, head of the Delegated Sports Area; Rafael Fernández de Alarcón, Global Director of Marketing for Telefónica; Magdalena Brier, General Director of ProFuturo; athletes Abel Antón, Chema Martínez, Pablo Villalobos and Clara Simal; Raúl Chapado, president of the Spanish Athletics Federation; Eduardo Ajuria Fernández, president of the Marathon Sports Association; and Isidro Arranz, president of the Madrid Athletics Federation.
This twenty-first edition of the Movistar Madrid Half Marathon, and sixth of the ProFuturo Race, marks a return to ‘normality’ after last year’s change of date due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with a return to its traditional date of celebration on the first Sunday of April.
It is also the return of the ProFuturo children’s races, on Saturday, with non-competitive tests for children between 3 and 12 years old that will also take place on the Gallur indoor track, a sports hall where the runner’s fair will be located. Registration costs 1 euro and is limited to 500 participants. All proceeds will go to ProFuturo, the digital education program promoted by Fundación Telefónica and Fundación La Caixa to reduce the educational gap in vulnerable environments in Latin America, the Caribbean, Africa and Asia.
Likewise, the ‘Solidarity Shoes’ project has been presented, a social integration program for homeless people through sport and which will lead a large group of runners to the start to complete the Movistar Madrid Half Marathon.
Among the novelties of this edition, the newly released and improved route of 2021 will be maintained, more affordable and spectacular than the previous ones. With the support of Movistar, the innovative ‘big data’ tool will continue to be promoted, with which they will be able to consult their race statistics with advanced visualizations and compare their times and rhythms with the category in which they competed.
GELETE BURKA AND THE AFRICAN ARMY
An important cast of African athletes will fight for victory in the Half Marathon, especially in the women’s category with the presence of Gelete Burka, double world cross-country champion, world indoor champion, world runner-up in 10,000 meters and winner of the San Silvestre Vallecana in 2017, and Almaz Ayana, Olympic gold medalist in 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, where he also broke the world record with 29:17.
In the men’s category, a good number of Kenyan and Ethiopian athletes will fight for victory. With accredited times of less than 1h01 and with the aim of losing the hour at the finish line in the Paseo de Recoletos, the Kenyans Paul Tiongik, Phenus Kpleting, Shadrack Kipngetich Koech and Vincent Kipkemoi Ngetich stand out, among others.
Likewise, we must also add among the favorites the Ethiopian Chala Beyo, or the debutants Edwin Yator and Victor Chepkowny. The ‘African Army’ is joined by the Spanish Javi Guerra, one of the best national athletes and who accredits 2h07:27 in the marathon.
There will also be the triathlete Javier Gómez Noya, Olympic silver medalist and multiple world champion in different categories, the Madrid marathon runner Chema Martínez, and the veteran world champions Abel Antón and Martín Fiz.
In the last edition of 2021, the best marks in history were achieved in the Spanish capital over 21,097 meters. In total, up to seven men fell short of the hour and up to four women stopped the clock in less than 1h09. The Kenyans Nelly Jepchumba, with 1:07:46, and Ronald Kiprotich Kirui, with 59:38, smashed the historical records of this race in the male and female categories.
Telefónica’s Global Marketing Director, Rafael Fernández de Alarcón, highlighted that Telefónica is a company “committed to sport at all levels”. “We like to spread the values that come with the practice of any discipline and offer the use of technology as the best ally to achieve the highest performance of athletes. For this reason, this year, we wanted to join this great celebration of sport, sharing with all those registered the app: Train with Movistar, which provides personalized training to get to one of the most important races held in our country in the best shape”, he commented.
The start is located on Paseo de La Castellana and the finish line on Paseo de Recoletos, and passes through some of the most emblematic areas of Madrid such as the Santiago Bernabéu, Plaza de Castilla, Calle Serrano, Puerta de Alcalá, Atocha , the Paseo del Prado, the Neptuno and Cibeles squares until reaching the finish line a little before Colón.