Isaac Nader and Marta García triumph in the Bilbao Mile
Athletes of all categories will meet today at Bilbao’s Gran Vía to experience an athletics party in the morning
“I think it has been the best Bilbao Mile in history”, repeated excited Alex Carneros, president of BM Bilbao and organizer of the race. The level of the competitors, the animation and more than a thousand participants in 18 races confirmed him in his thoughts, and he was right. In 2021, the Bilbao Mile took the big leap by becoming the best on the national scene for the Spanish Athletics Federation. And today it has provided more than enough arguments to repeat the award, because in the Gran Vía circuit, in addition to runners of all ages, a long list of elite athletes have gathered who have turned the artery of the capital into a athletics party. Isaac Nader, an old acquaintance of the fans, has repeated victory in the event organized by EL CORREO, although without reaching the record that he discovered in 2021. And Marta García has climbed the BM to the top of the podium by winning the women’s event.
They have been the winners of the appointments for professional athletes, but the winner of the day has been an athletics legend who has neither been able nor wanted to go unnoticed. Marcin Lewandowski announced in May that he was leaving professional athletics, which he had already fully accomplished in a career that led him to win an outdoor European (Barcelona 2010) and three indoor ones, as well as a bronze at the 2019 Doha World Cup. But despite everything, he was encouraged to come to Bilbao as a farewell to the national public, and of course it has been a farewell in style. All the athletes who have run their test have wanted to be photographed with one of the great European competitors, in addition to attending to the hundreds of requests they have had from the fans present on the Gran Vía.
In competition, yes, he has not been able to with the form and level of some of those present in Bilbao. The Biscayan appointment is the penultimate of a series of urban races that Zamora will close next weekend. And it is also the last one before the start of the Cross season that starts on Sunday in Zornotza. That is why there are those who have rushed to accumulate successes in the miles and others who are already polishing their form for the first cross-country events. And that has been reflected. For example, Isaac Nader and Ignacio Fontes shared the last victories -Berango and Jaén- and today they were once again the strongest in a tight finish. Runners like Dani Arce or Sebas Martos, who are already thinking about cross-country, have been ahead, but others like the world and European champion Mariano García or Adrián Ben, have a long way to go towards their goals for the course and have hardly been able to stand out in the platoon.
In the female category, the same thing happened. The runners who have been ahead in the previous miles have once again led the peloton, as is the case of Marta García, who won in Madrid, or Agueda Marqués, who was on the podium in Berango. And although the surprising Carolina Robles, who is already thinking about the cross-country course, has tried to break the race and go alone, in the end she has paid for the lack of speed and the high workload on her legs and has been overcome by Garcia and Marquis. The Sevillian obstacle has finally been third.
These two races, in addition to the tribute to the veteran sports journalist Ernesto Díaz, have put the climax to a mile that has started at 10:45 am and has lasted for three hours. In total, more than a thousand participants who have shown that the Bilbao Mile is in very good health and that, as its organizer said, it may have been the best since it was launched in 2006.
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