Both men’s and women’s teams finished in third place, and student José Ignacio Giménez also brought the bronze medal home in the individual modality.
The “La Torrecilla” circuit in Lorca held, on March 2nd, the Spanish University Cross Country Running Championship, where 181 students from 34 universities participated.
Athlete José Ignacio Giménez managed to step into the third level of the podium after finishing the 8,500 meters in 0:25:10, with a vertiginous pace of 2:57 per km. Ahead of him, Daniel Arce, from the Catholic University San Antonio of Murcia (UCAM), won the championship with a total time of 0:24:58. Zakaria Boufaljat, from the University of Huelva, finished in second place by crossing the finish line with a time of 0:24:59.
The women’s team of the UV, comprised of Andrea Romero Escandell, Raquel Echeverria San Martin, Nara Elipe Esteller and Ana Borràs Montagud won the bronze medal. The girls from the UCAM, who won the golden medal, managed to run the 6,000 metres the fastest. The representatives of the University of León won the silver medal.
The men’s team of the Universitat de València, comprised of José Ignacio Giménez Pérez, Miguel Ángel Martínez Chazarra, Isaac Theo Hirshman Chandler and Enrique Ríos Morales, finished the 8,500 meters trail in third place, after the UCAM of Murcia (1st place) and the University of Valladolid (2nd place).
The Universitat de València won a total of three bronze medals in this modality, defined as one of the hardest and most complete races of athletics. Cross-country, also known as cross, is mainly a race across the country, that is, natural, non-urban circuits. It was contested as a team and individual event during three Olympic Games: Antwerp 1920, Stockholm 1912 and Paris 1924. Nowadays, the most important competition is the World Athletics Cross Country Championships, which is held annually in an itinerant venue designated by World Athletics.
