Local athletics club enjoys successes in and outside of the Valencian region

Thursday 28th October 2021 – ÁLVARO MONFORT with Mike Smith

The athletes of Club d’Atletisme Llebeig de Xàbia enjoyed a great weekend in which its runners competed in different events inside and outside of the Comunidad Valenciana and in different categories, reaping great results, another example of the club’s active participation and dedication of its members who continue to excel in tests of all types and difficulties.

Among all these, four athletes from the club participated in the 30th Half Marathon of València Trinidad Alfondo EDP 2021. Carlos Cordero recorded a time of 1:40:06, José Jaime Ortiz 1:46:49, Manuel Álvarez López 1:54: 52 and Miguel Vallés Sendín 2:13:94. A total of 12,000 athletes took part in this 21km event.

Isaac Díaz and Javi Fernández competed in the Top of the Rock Ultra-Trail starting in Castellón and finishing in Morella, a very demanding 120 kilometre race with 4,930m of positive elevation gain. The route is divided into three stages of 45km, 36km and 39km each. The two arrived first in pairs and in fifth and sixth position of the absolute classification with a total time of 13h and 23 minutes.

Another of the great protagonists of the weekend was María Devesa who finished in third position in the Under 14 category of the Cross Ciutat de Castelló. A hard, cross-country route, in which the runner knew how to stand out.

In La Marina, the Pego Trail was a competition in which more runners from Llebeig participated. In the 14km distance, Nasio Cardona was proclaimed champion followed by Juan José Vallés, who finished in eighth position overall, Cristian Monzó thirteenth, whilst Miriam Moritz third in the senior category. In the 19km test, Lisa Childs finished eleventh in the female veterans category, whilst Joan Fullana finished seventeenth and Alex Gayá thirty-fourth in the male veterans category.

In Benissa, the 6km II Cursa de Tardor took place and five athletes from Llebeig participated. Juan Gallego finished at 24:10 and claimed fifth position in his category and 21st overall. Ricardo Pérez finished in 25:25 claiming eleventh position in his category and 29th overall. Mark Langley finished in 27:40 and claimed 16th position in his category and 49th overall. Ana González scored a time of 27:56, managing to be the third best classified in her category and 50th overall whilst Raquel Ronda finished in 30:42, she was also third in her category and 73rd in the general.

Outside of the Valencian region, José Ortuño participated in the Ibiza Half Triathlon, a demanding race consisting of 2km of swimming, 85km of cycling and 21km of running. Ortuño finished in 25th position in the Men’s Open category with a time of 5:13:57.

Others who also participated in a national competition were Laura Crespo and Ainara Sapena who were summoned by Club Dianium as subsidiary athletes to go to Final B of the Spanish Under 16 Club Championships. Both were able to enjoy their first test experience at these levels.