Argentina Valdepeñas from La Laguna did it once again and was crowned two-time champion of the Lala Marathon, while in the men’s branch, Orlando Casillas Velázquez from Guadalajara prevailed in the competition that celebrated its thirty-fourth edition, through the main road arteries of Gómez Palacio, Ciudad Lerdo and Torreón.
With barely a year in the tests of these distances and in his third Marathon on his legsthe “Devil” Casillas as he is nicknamed, he did his greatest mischief, to sign up for the 42.195 kilometer test in 2 hours, 17 minutes and 30 seconds.
But the native of Tlaquepaque, Jalisco, did not have it easy. On the edge of kilometer 26, when taking Independencia boulevard, after a colorful route on Mexico and Madrid avenues, he slowed down due to a small abdominal crisis, just when they passed the lagoon John Joel Pacheco and the Kenyan Rodgers Ondati Gesabwa.
The man from Torreón, bronze at the Pan American Games in Lima 2019 and an Olympian for Mexico in Tokyo 2020, kept his promise and at kilometer 30 on Avenida Juárez and Calle 10, he abandoned the race, thanking him for the great support he received in his first Lala Marathon. .
Pacheco’s effort had consequences. He gave shots that broke the African Gesabwa, who stopped after crossing the 28, passing the Plaza Mayor in Torreón, allowing Casillas Velázquez to recover the lead, which he had taken leaving Ciudad Lerdo.
It was so that the man from Guadalajara headed alone in the final stretch, although he had to travel the last kilometers on Avenida Central and Paseo del Campestre, with an eternal and endless curve, without knowing how close his closest pursuer was.
But when Matías Román returned to the road, “Diablo” Casillas, encouraged by the dozens of lagoon workers who gathered in the vicinity of the Venustiano Carranza Forest, kept up the pace to cross the FINISH in the midst of a great atmosphere, received by authorities municipal and state.
the guanajuatense Ruben Chavez Hernandezstayed with him runner-up by stopping the stopwatch at 2 hours, 18 minutes and 24 seconds. He was at the beginning of the competition in the leading group, which upon entering Ciudad Jardín was lagging behind Casillas and Gesabwa, but benefited from the pursuit carried out by Juan Joel Pacheco, in the middle of Constitución Boulevard, when kilometer 19 was completed.
The third position it was for Marco Antonio Martinez Salvador (2h18:54) from Tlaxcala, a meritorious place, after having arrived in the Comarca Lagunera, on Saturday almost at midnight. He missed his flight from Mexico City, so he had to travel to the Sultana del Norte, from the Monterrey city by car, arriving after 11 p.m. in Torreón.
He repeated the same position as last year, although he far exceeded his 2022 time, which was 2 hours, 25 minutes and 11 seconds, behind the monarch Carlos Loredo and the runner-up Christian Rolando Castro, from the City of Mexico. The man from Querétaro on this occasion, he was fourth, almost half a minute from getting on the podium.
ARGENTINA, INTRACTABLE
Argentina Valdepenas She was once again the fastest in the women’s category, to endorse her title and be the two-time champion of the sports fair.
The winner completed a time of 2 hours, 39 minutes and 11 seconds. Second place went to Ivón Domínguez Acosta from the capital (2h42:22), with whom the native of Torreón had a great duel in the first third of the tour.
But Valdepeñas Cerna quickened his pace at kilometer 15, at the exit of Gómez Palacio, before the Silver Bridge, to get away from the native of Mexico City, who continued to wait to hunt down the local, somewhere in the journey.
The shouts of “Let’s go Argentina”, “Yes we can” “You’re going to win again” intensified in the second part of the tour, when the lagoons realized that their countrywoman was at the top of the competition in the ladies.
And it is that the organizing committee, was right to put a guide car with a stopwatch included in front of the toe, so people quickly identified the first runner, in which Argentina made good forecasts.
Third place went to Berenice Rodríguez Varela from Zacatecas, that with 2 hours, 46 minutes and one second, she celebrated in a big way when she crossed the FINISH line, because the strategy implemented to get on the winning podium worked.
LAGUNEROS
In the male branch, Omar Rodríguez Martínez was the fastest native of the Comarca Lagunera. He did a time of 2 hours, 37 minutes and 8 seconds. He was escorted by Roberto Zamora López De Lara, in addition to José Darío Loredo Araujo, Martín Eduardo Morales Soto and Jaime Ortiz Ocón.
In the women’s branch, the triathlete Fernanda Arguijo Aguirre was the fastest Lagoon, crossing the finish line with a time of 3 hours, 10 minutes and one second. She was followed by Pamela Salgado De La Garza and Melissa Cabodevila Santelices.
