Val d'Aran by UTMB® kicks off with more than 80 nationalities at the starting line
Val d'Aran by UTMB® is already underway. The trail running event, which is held in the heart of the Pyrenees, opened its doors this morning at 10:00 am, with the delivery of bib numbers and the opening of the Ultra-Trail® Village, one of the main attractions of this third edition of the event. The fair, which is expected to attract more than 12,000 visitors until Sunday at 14:00, changes its location to Avenida Pas d'Arro and concentrates most of the services for runners.
In its 6,700 square metres of surface area, some of the most important brands in the sector will be present, with a total of 40 exhibitors, a gastronomic area with food trucks, the Official Store to acquire merchandising, the UTMB® World Series Fun Zone, the delivery of bibs and accreditations, the information point, and the final refreshment area for the participants in the different competitions.
In the afternoon, at 17:00, in the village of Tredós, the TR2 was held, the 6 km race whose main protagonists are the volunteers. Two of the most important athletes in the country, Azara García de los Salmones and Maite Maiora, and the American Craig Hunt, came there to give them a surprise and cheer them on. This year again, Val d'Aran by UTMB® has a team of more than 500 volunteers.
Two hours later, at 19:00, the official presentation of the event took place in the Ultra-Trail® Village. The event featured the presentation of some of the elites who will compete to be the first to reach the finish line in Vielha, and Catherine and Michel Poletti, co-founders of the UTMB Group.
Alyssa Clark, Miguel Arsenio, Julien Chorier, Ho Chung Wong, Azara García de los Salmones, Maite Maiora, Aritz Egea, Oihana Kortazar, Eli Gordon, Yuanyuan Wu, Mario Olmedo, Craig Hunt, Sebastian Krogvig, Peter Frano, Antonio Martínez Pérez, Joao Rodrigues, Dani Colom, Elisabeth Ríos, Marcos Ramos, and Borja Fernández were the athletes who took the stage at the Ultra-Trail® Village.
Val d'Aran by UTMB®, the trail event with the largest number of participants in Spain
In only three years of existence, Val d'Aran by UTMB® has become a world reference, selling out all its distances.
More than 5,400 participants from more than 80 countries will enjoy the landscapes of the Val d'Aran until 9 July competing in one of its five races.
For the second consecutive year, Val d'Aran by UTMB® is once again the UTMB® World Series Major, the European final of the UTMB® World Series circuit, offering a direct place to the first ten men and the first ten women who finish the VDA, the CDH and the PDA in the UTMB® World Series Finals (OCC, CCC® or UTMB®) in the equivalent category. It will also award its finishers double the number of Running Stones, which will double their chances of access to UTMB® Mont-Blanc, an event which each year receives more than 30,000 bib applications.
Antonio Martínez (903 UTMB® Index), Aritz Egea (894 UTMB® Index), Azara García de los Salmones (781 UTMB® Index), Nuria Picas (768 UTMB® Index), Pere Aurell (879 UTMB® Index), Maite Maiora (760 UTMB® Index), or Pablo Villalobos (813 UTMB® Index) will be some of the national runners competing to be the first to ring the bell at the finish arch in Vielha.
On the international scene, names such as the American Alyssa Clark (708 UTMB® Index) in the VDA; the Romanian Ionel Cristian Manole (888 UTMB® Index), the Slovakian Peter Frano (881 UTMB® Index), and the Norwegians Mari Klakegg Fenre (723 UTMB® Index) and Tobias Dahl Fenre (860 UTMB® Index) in the CDH; or the Italian Elisa Desco (744 UTMB® Index) and the Portuguese Bruno Silva (858 UTMB® Index) in the PDA, among many others.
