Trailrunning Spain

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As of the last 10 years, trail runners from Spain seem to have taken the world´s races by storm. From the shores of  San Francisco, to the halls of Chamonix, the country were the “Infantería de Marina” was first created back in the XVI century, seems now to be churning out wave after wave of raw “running marines” with outstanding talent to strive and succeed the world over.

Mountain running as we know it today goes back a long way in Spain, with the first trail running race series being held back in 1923. It was called the “Copa de Hierro” (Iron Cup) and was organized at current´s Madrid National Guadarrama Park which offers peaks up to 2.430 meters, well preserved wildlife (wolf, eagles, etc..) as well as ski stations.

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Ever since those 1923 pioneers, trail running has always been present over Spain, albeit from the 1980´s onward the sport started to rise substantially and take over new areas, first nationally then made a big splash internationally with spaniards being present among top performes in many of the most demanding mountain races the world over.

The list of exploits now includes many world champions, together with world class talents in different specialties, from the vertical kilometer to never ending ultras: Kilian Jornet, Luis Alberto Hernando, Nuria Picas, Oihana Kortazar, Laura Orgué, Miguel Heras, Nuria Domínguez, Iker Karrera, Nerea Martínez, Manuel Merillas, and so on…

If you want to see where they come from, the way they train or how they strive to make progress in their running, we shall do our best to keep you informed and suggest a few ideas to come run with us.

Because, outside Spain  very few foreigners are privy to the fact that Spain is the second most mountainous country in Europe, with an average altitude above sea level second only to Switzerland. And that, not by far 😉

Mountains of Spain: From Gibraltar to the Pyrenees