The media, on December 19
The organization opens the registration on Monday for the test that will be held on December 19 but will not be able to specify the route until weeks before due to the EIB works
After 18 months of uncertainty, restrictions, shared efforts and headaches to carry out the test, the Vitoria event with the 21 kilometers returns to the streets. The Vitoria Half Marathon will be held again after the 2020 stoppage with a limit of 2,500 participants and 500 more for the ‘txiki’ test. The organization will open registrations on Monday 18 until November 21 at a price of 22 euros, and the furthest behind will be able to sign up on the last day, although the cost will rise to 50.
«We limit the numbers because there is a lot of anxiety, many tests coincide in a very short period, there will be dispersion and it is possible that we will lose participation. We hope not to fall short or spend too much time “, has argued Andrés Sánchez, president of the Alava Athletics Federation. So the 43rd will stay far from the 2014 record of 4,527, although in recent years there were around 3,100 participants.
There will be more substantial changes from the last edition. The most positive is that the race will serve as the Basque Country championship as well as the province of Álava, as was usual. But most will be restrictive in nature out of precaution and responsibility for the pandemic. Vitorians must collect their number the day before the event, on December 18, in the athletics module, the following day being reserved for foreigners, given the roots of the event in the north of the country. There will be no gift t-shirt, although there will be a gift, nor will there be a stretching and massage area to try to avoid physical contact.
“We are not yet in that normality that we all yearn for and we must act with prudence,” said Sánchez in the presentation of the test at the headquarters of the Vital Foundation to which Livia López, sports councilor, on behalf of the City Council of the city. Mikel García, the head of the organization who has detailed the problems with the route, has also intervened. «Surely we cannot unveil it until December. We find ourselves with the same problem as in 2019. We are finding a lot of works that force us to review the circuit until almost the last minute and we have to give up going through the center to avoid crowds “.
The only sure thing is that the athletes will leave at 10:30 from Portal de Lasarte (11:00 the ‘txikis’) and will have the finish line in the Mendizorroza parking lot. They want to eliminate the passage through the Paseo de la Música and the Paseo de Carmelo Bernaola, which are too narrow, and bet on Florida, Universities and Avenida Gasteiz as the main points of passage. Although it will also depend on the approval of the Spanish Federation, which must approve the unevenness of each kilometer and will have the last word.
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