This Sunday, the municipality of Albox held one of the most powerful long-distance events held in the province of Almería. The 11th edition of the ‘BTT Senda de Arrieros Albox’ brought together the best bikers from Almería in this sporting event, the penultimate of the Andalusian Cup of BTT Marathon and the sixth of the XCM Series Almería 2024, before the summer break.
David Rodríguez and María Esther Maqueda have been the winners of the 2024 edition.
Thus, from the Agua y Salud Sports Center the platoon left on time and, after a foot on the ground on the boulevard, the official start was given, with the runners heading towards the Terdiguera watchtower from the 12th century, where the first and second races began. demanding ramps. As they passed through Terrera de la Alcáina (Km 10.7), Antonio Raúl Gutiérrez Requena led the test, followed by Ángel Rodríguez Abarca, Loren Herrera Ponce and Javier Chacón Quesada. A few minutes later, the first female, María Esther Maqueda Pérez, passed by with a surprising pace.
The first escape that took place was led by Antonio Raúl Gutiérrez and Loren Herrera, who were already several minutes ahead of the rest of the pursuers at the Las Pocicas aid station (km 28) and at Los Guillenes (km 42). Nothing suggested any change, however, to everyone’s surprise, the elite David Rodríguez Redondo (Sportbici Team) contacted the leading duo, who, in a vibrant final sprint and with a time of 02:38:57, achieved the victory ahead of the masters 30 Loren Herrera (Kazakhstan -Petrogold – Try It) and Antonio Raúl Gutiérrez Requena (CD Faster Wear Team), second and third overall, respectively.
In women, María Esther Maqueda Pérez (CD Expobikes) entered first, who, after leading the race from start to finish with an iron fist, 03:19:41 was enough to take the victory. They were followed by the also elites Alba Membrilla (Espejo Bike Team) and Marta Ballesteros (CD BTT Villa de Benamejí) to occupy the second and third positions, both in the general and in the elite category.
Thus ended a day of authentic mountain biking, successfully organized by the Albox City Council and the collaboration of the Provincial Council of Almería and Albox Bike CD and marked by the mud of some boulevards and the strong sun this Sunday in the Albojense municipality.
The sporting event has had an excellent reception from the public. The Albojense venue was filled with lovers of this sport who were accompanied by the mayor of Albox, María del Mar Alfonso and the sports councilor, Martín Martínez Porcel. During the trophy presentation, Alfonso had words of gratitude to all the participants, volunteers and collaborators in the organization, “without you it would have been impossible to carry out a test as important as this one. Albox is also a sport and the best example of this is these types of large events. Here you have your home and I hope you have enjoyed our surroundings, our heritage and return to Albox whenever you want,” said the mayor in a massive event that ended well into the afternoon.
The Senda Arrieros BTT has also had a touch of solidarity. Funds have been raised to help Ángel Saavedra, a marathon and ultra-distance runner with a modular injury and in a wheelchair for two years. He dreams of crossing a finish line, that’s why he needs to buy a handbike, a push chair, that allows him to have a little more freedom.
We remember that this test has been the last scoring test for the Ambassador Challenge , an initiative of the Škoda Titan Desert Almería together with the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sports of the Government of Andalusia and the Andalusian Cycling Federation, through which, Up to twelve Andalusian amateur cyclists will be able to obtain free registration for the aforementioned Almería mountainbike race.
The winners will be the first six of the provisional absolute men’s classification and the first six of the provisional absolute women’s classification of the Andalusian Cup of BTT Marathon 2024 after the dispute of the 9th Monclova Desert BTT Marathon (held on March 2), the VII Despeñaperros MTB (held on May 4) and this last event in Albox.
Test winners by category:
Junior : Alvaro Flores (Symisur Centauro Bikes) and Marta Fernandez (CC El Gamellon).
Sub23 : Francisco Trujillo (CD BTT Villa de Benamejí).
Elite : David Rodríguez (Sportbici Team) and María Esther Maqueda (CD Expobikes).
Master 30 : Loren Herrera (Kazakhstan – Petrogold – Try It) and Mercedes Valenzuela (Escayescos Imporalia Kanina).
Master 40 : Alejandro García (Mecol Bike Team) and Olga Manrique (CD Etipon Bike).
Master 50 : Marcos Nieto (CC Oxygenbike Team).
Master 60 : José García (Mecol Bike Team).
Local general winners.
1st Candidate Javier Bonillo.
2nd Pedro Javier Domenech.
3rd Luis Armando Jímenez Oller.
Short Route Winners (non-scoring)
1º José Martínez
2º Cristobal Rodríguez Zamora
3rd Antonio Martínez Lozano
Mountain Award
1st Loren Herrera Ponce (M)
1st María Esther Ponce. (F)
In addition, delivery of Ham to the largest group and a raffle for a weekend for two people at the “Sol de Taberno” rural complex.