Today 15 years of the historic European Cup of Madrid 2002 are celebrated

In the European Cup of Madrid 2002 there was a huge Spanish participation, possibly the best of all time, with Ivan Raña, Eneko Llanos, Marcel Zamora, Javier Gomez Noya, Ana Burgos or Ainhoa ​​Murua competing in the capital of Spain.

In the following article we want to remember a historical appointment of the Spanish triathlon, the European Cup of Madrid 2002, reviewing the Spaniards who competed there 15 years we can affirm that they were in that race on 80 or 90% of the best Spanish triathletes of all time. 

The competition was developed in the House, the swimming was done in the lake of the Casa de Campo, 1500m, later the cycling segment (40km) was made by a place that has not been repeated, climbing Garabitas from behind, going down where it climbs now and returning to the lake by the tennis courts. Finally the test ended with the 10 km of running. 

Ana Burgos was the winner of the women's event with a 2 time: 08: 22, second was Pillar Hidalgo with 2: 09: 24 and third the French Delphine Pelletier with 2: 09: 41. The race was very hard, only 32 women managed to finish, practically reaching all the triathletes one by one. In total there were 26 dropouts, almost the 50%.  

As regards the men's competition, the victory was for Ivan Frog with a time of 1: 56: 06, followed by José María Merchán only 2 ”and third was the South African Claude Eksteen with a time of 1: 56: 34. The participation was very numerous, with 78 triathletes in goal and 12 dropouts.

 Finally we want to review the triathletes that competed there and are currently linked to the world of triathlon, even competing at an international level, at a national level, such as GGEE, coaches, representatives of sports brands, etc ... The list is Awesome: 

• Ivan Raña (ITU World Champion, 3 JJOO, Qualified for Kona 2017)
• Ana Burgos (2 Olympic Games, European Champion) Alberto Garcia Bataller (Coach)
• Pilar Hidalgo (Distributor of neoprene MAKO)
• Hektor Llanos (Biomecanico in Fitgüne)
• Maribel Blanco (2 times winner of IM LZ, 1 JJOO, coach)
• Eneko Llanos (12 times classified for KONA)
• Ainhoa ​​Murua (4 JOO)
• Clemente Alonso (Winner of the IM Sweden, trainer of Iván Álvarez)
• Natalia Raña (Saltoki triathlete and coach)
• Javier Gómez Noya (10 times world champion, silver medal JJOO London 2012)
• David Castro Iglesias (Coach)
• Cristina Azanza (Trainer)
• Jose Manuel Tovar (Coach)
• Ruth Brito (Coach and top15 World ITU LD 2017)
• Jordi Giménez (Organizer)
• Ingrid Sala
• Marcel Zamora (6 times winner of Embrunman and 5 of the Nice IM)
• Zuriñe Rodríguez (1 JJOO and ITU triathlete)
• Ciro Tovar (coach)
• Helena Herrero (triathlete PRO IM)
• Marcos Mendiola (triathlete)
• Omar Tayara (triathlete, trainer and founder of Taymory)
• Iñaki Arenal (National coach)
• Carlos David Prieto (Coach of Javier Gómez Noya, Vicente Hernández, Pablo Dapena and Tamara Gómez among other triathletes)
• Jaime Menéndez de Luarca (triathlete and coach of Emilio Aguayo and Sara Pérez among other triathletes)
• Rubén Bravo (coach)
• Cesar Pereira (triathlete)
• Ramón Ejeda (Triathlete and Tri Canet coach)

Acknowledgments: To thank Jaime Menéndez de Luarca, Omar Tayara, Pilar Hidalgo and Marcos Mendiola for their collaboration

NOTE: We could not find photos of the winners' event, so the photos of Ana Burgos and Iván Raña are from other years, obtained from the ITU website. The only photo that we have been able to get from Madrid is that of Pilar Hidalgo.