With the new year, the time has also come for athletes to conscientiously study the 2023 competition calendar and prepare to mark the tests in which they wish to participate in red to draw up a roadmap according to their objectives. Spanish Championships, valid tests for the Nationals, Spanish Cups… each athlete makes his selection, although now it is possible that he has to review it. The reason is that four of the appointments that were valid for both Spanish Championships and Spanish Cups in the calendar of the Spanish Federation of Mountain and Climbing Sports (Fedme), have been disassociated from this calendar. And although the competitions will be held, they will no longer be valid for any of these national competitions.
This has been made known by the organizations El Chivo Snowrunning, Picos Snow Run, Desafío Cantabria and Ultra-KV Castro Valnera, organizers of the four tests, through a statement. «To date we were included in the Competition Calendar of the Spanish Mountain and Climbing Sports Federation (Fedme), we want to inform all athletes interested in attending our tests that due to various circumstances and compelling reasons we have decided not to continue. forming part of the Fedme calendar”, reads the text.
“From now on we will dedicate all our efforts to working to offer you the best in our respective tests,” explain the four organizations, who also wanted to make it clear what reasons led them to adopt this resolution. “It has been a very thoughtful decision because the rights and obligations that being part of the calendar entailed were not balanced on the scales,” they argue.
The Fedme admits that it is possible that this course there will be no Spanish Snow Sports Championship or Cup and there will be “a blank year in this chapter”
From the Fedme they flee from the controversy and Luis Giner, its technical director, admits that the Federation’s position is to “accept what they have told us. It is not what we want, but it might not have been otherwise. His attitude in this regard has been inflexible », he explains. And regarding the reasons that have led the Cantabrian organizations to make this decision, he believes that “surely there has been a lack of communication. Perhaps they have not properly read the calls for the organization of tests in 2023 and that has also caused some dysfunction, “says Giner, who adds:” I think they have reached a saturation with respect to the things that we have been requesting and they have been planted. . It has been a measure of force in which we have had no choice but to accept. What is not clear is what Fedme is going to do with this new scenario. “From now on, I don’t know how we’ll proceed,” he says.
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In total there are four tests that are no longer attached to the Fedme calendar. The first of them this same Saturday, February 18. This is El Chivo Snowrunning, which is held in Alto Campoo. A competition that was going to be the second round of the Spanish Cup, as well as the Individual Spanish Championship. The circumstance occurs that the inscriptions were open some time ago, so it may be the case that some of the participants have signed up with the idea of participating in a National that is no longer going to be held on that date, although the test is maintained and will run normally. And the same is going to happen with the appointment on March 4, the Picos Snow Run Snowshoes in Fuente Dé, in the Picos de Europa National Park on its Cantabrian side. A competition that covers a total of 8.5 kilometers, with a positive difference of +400m and that decided at the time the Individual Spanish Championship and regional teams.
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The fact that these two tests, and especially the one this weekend due to the little room for maneuver left by such tight deadlines, are not part of the calendar has a risk for Fedme. And it is that this course is given “a blank year” in terms of the Spanish Championships and Spanish Cups that are winter in nature. Relocating the Nationals in other tests is not easy. «It is complicated because we are going once morest the clock and finding organizers is not so easy either. We need some minimums to be covered and that there is a relationship of rights and obligations in the organization of tests, ”Giner details. A complication to which is added that they are events that can only be held in snow. «Everything that refers to winter is on the ropes right now. We may not be able to replace these tests, so we will assume a blank year in this chapter and we will work so that this does not happen once more », he advances.
Return of registrations
What has already been planned is the way to compensate athletes who no longer wish to participate and this has been reflected in their statement by the Cantabrian El Chivo Snowrunning and Picos Snow Run. «In the case of the Spanish Snowrunning Championship and the Spanish Snowshoe Championship, which were already registered through the Fedme registration platform, said federation will inform you of the refund process in the coming days. of the inscriptions to those federated men and women who so wish.
The other two tests that are no longer part of the Fedme competition calendar are the KV Castro Valnera, which will be held on May 28 in Vega de Pas and which was going to be the second test of the Spanish Cup, in addition to the Championship of Spain by clubs. And the Cantabria Challenge, which takes place on October 6, 7 and 8, and whose Ultra Trail test, which has a total of almost 82 kilometers of harsh, but unforgettable sea, mountain and nature, with a route between San Vicente de la Barquera and Fuente Dé; It was going to be the Spanish Club Championship.
Now Fedme is working to rectify the situation, but as Giner explains, they do not ensure that it can be achieved. “I don’t know if it’s a possibility that exists. It is not at all easy right now to find a replacement of a certain size to be able to carry out what we had planned, “confesses the technical director of Fedme, who regrets that this is” an inconvenience, but not only for us, but for the federated athletes participating in our tests. It is not a good situation at all », he finishes.
