Spanish route to Hawaii 2015 (part 1)

In this article we are going to meet many of the Spaniards who during this season will fight to get the slot for the Ironman World Championship in Kona

 

During the last years we are seeing more and more Spaniards fight and get their classification for the Ironman World Championship of Hawaii, around the twenty of representatives, on the other hand the feminine representation is limited to 2 or as much 3 Spanish in the list of exit of Kona.

In this article we are going to meet many of the Spaniards who during this season will fight to get the slot for the ironman world cup. As reference we have taken all the Spaniards who in 2014 were top10 in their age group in some Ironman or in the PRO category and therefore will fight this season to improve those results and try to qualify for Kona.

In this first part we will know the Spanish PROS that compete in IM with the dream of achieving the classification for Hawaii. We will also meet two of the three Spaniards who were Finishers in Kona in 2014 following with the two women who are already classified for the Ironman World Championship of 2015. To close this first part, we will know what could have been the Spanish 3ª classified for Hawaii but that it gave up its slot ... although it does not rule out trying to achieve it in the future and run in "the Mecca"

To begin we will do it with the triathletes who have competed in the PRO category in recent years, Saleta Castro, is the most Ironmans has played in the last three years being several times top5 in Lanzarote, IM that will play for the fourth time at the end of next May.

 

Saleta Castro: @Statacastro

She told us that in 2015 it is not among her objectives to qualify for Hawaii, but if from September she will try to qualify for 2016. On the other hand Helena Herrero He made his debut in Ironman in 2013 being runner-up in Spain and last year was 11ª PRO in IM Mallorca. For this season its main objective is the IM Frankfurt. At first, the 2015 classification for Hawaii is not among his objectives, but he dreams of being able to try it in 2016.

 

Helena Herrero: @Helentriatlon

Then we will present two Spanish women who ran in Kona last October, Carmen Brahim y Ruth Varona, both of them in the same age group 40-44. Carmen has lived in the United States for many years, belongs to the Dynamo Multisports club and has played 3 IM, in 2012 she ran IM Florida, last year in IM Louisville won her age group and achieved the qualification for Hawaii, where she played her third IM. For this 2015 will play at the end of the year the IM Fortaleza in Brazil as she told us "hard swimming race and very hot in the marathon as I like it".

 

Carmen Brahim: @carmetatri

Ruth Varona, of the Autogruas Tinlohi club, 3 ironmans has also played, 2014 Lanzarote where 10 was in their age group, and last year also Lanzarote where 2 was 40-44 and achieved the classification for Hawaii. In our opinion Ruth is the clear example that "if you can", we have taken her as a reference to make this article, she was 10ª and the following year she managed to get up with a fantastic 2ª square that gave her the slot, in her great improvement showed that if she can, everyone can, so we decided to search all the top10, write and encourage them to try the dream of qualifying to "Mecca".

 

 

As of today there are two Spaniards who already have their slot for Kona, the first to get it was Maxine Mckinnon (born in the United Kingdom, she has lived in Spain for many years, specifically in the Valencian Community). Maxime belongs to the Motor Bikes VRP Club of Swedish Triatlo, and has run 3IMs until today. Last year he won the 50-54 victory in the IM of Mallorca, which gave him a place in Hawaii next October, where he will be in the 55-59 category.

 

 

The second Spanish to achieve qualification for Hawaii was Mabel Gallardo, 2ª (35-39) at IM Cozumel at the end of last year. Mabel belongs to the Devil Triathlon Club of Rivas and has played 4IMs, Lanzarote 2012, Frankfurt 2013 (where I'm slotting to Hawaii) and Kona 2013. In 2015 both Mabel and Maxime will only dispute the IM of Kona ... and hopefully accompanied by some of the girls that we will present in the second part of the article.

 

Mabel Gallardo: @Mabelica

First, let's cite a special case, that of Monserrat Clavero (Club Natación Reus Ploms) she won a place in Hawaii in the IM of Barcelona when she won in 60-64 but resigned to slot (second time she does) because at the moment she can not go to compete in Hawaii, but she will continue trying it in the future. Montserrat has been competing for more than 30 in triathlon, has competed in 9 IMs and many other long distance or distance triathlons. It is the most veteran Spanish (we have news) that is still active running in medium and long distance today. He had planned to play the Ironcat in a few weeks, but an injury will prevent him from running ... hopefully he will recover and see him safe in Calella at the IM Barcelona in October.

 

(To be continue…)

Juan Jose Martí Navio @jjnavio