News :
A 60-year-old veteran won the Valencia Marathon and took the prize
It seems like a science fiction story, but it happened. It refreshes us this hot Wednesday Miquel Pucurull, a legend of popular athletics in Barcelona and Catalonia and who is usually very active on Twitter commenting and telling past stories of our popular careers. This undoubtedly deserves a special mention. It dates from 1996, the second year in which a new marathon format was contested, the so-called Compensated Marathon. It was held in Valencia (it lasted two editions) and what I wanted was for all the participants, despite the logical age differences that usually exist in any event, to compete on equal terms. How? Now we explain it to you.
A most innovative operation
The older a participant was, the earlier he or she would go out. For example, those 65 and older left 38 minutes earlier than everyone; those 60-64, 30 minutes ... and so on until reaching those under 40, who were all doing it in official time. The first year nothing special happened, it was carried out without major incidents (that means that no one especially veteran won), but the second will always be remembered. A high-level veteran Galician athlete, Manuel Rosales, entered the finish line first without any 'senior' or young man being able to catch him.
Precisely when the seniors and favorites arrived at the finish line after leaving half an hour later and not having been able to hunt him down, he got into a big mess. They complained angrily because the cash prize was finally won by a veteran (in all fairness according to what the race regulations were like). The pensa Compensated Marathon ’experiment was never done again…
Fa anys, València is going to contest the ‘Marató Compensada’, an experiment that, malgrat was an innovator, will end with the rosari de l'aurora. pic.twitter.com/PB0oDg7Izk
- Pucurull (@Pucurull) July 1, 2020