Spanish Marathon trials decided the team to compete at the Europeans in Portugal

David Rodriguez Dorado and Jorge Alonso will compete along with Emilio Merchán and Iván Alonso in the K2 Spanish Senior team for the European Marathon Championships to be held in Portugal in the first week of June. Meanwhile, Emilio Merchán will also join his K2 partner Iván Alonso in the K1.

After the selective trials held this weekend in Zamora, due to cancellation of Spanish Cup last April, which had toe served as a selection test, some of the best Spanish marathon paddlers competed for the remaining sopots in the team. Remember that the world champions of the past 2012 in Rome and the square had acquired the spot in property, so Iván Alonso, both in K1 and K2 with Merchán, Eva Barrios in the Women Senior K1 (due to her change of category this year), Antonio Campos in Senior C1 and the C2 couple Graña-Ferro left just one spot in play at these trials.

In the K1 race, 5 contestants which formed a compact group: Emilio Merchán, Xabier Ruiz de Aretxabaleta, David R. Dorado and Borja Estomba did the full marathon together, while Vicente Tortajada could not complete it. The victory went to Merchán in a close sprint against Aretxabaleta, who was again just one second away from the national team, as it happened two weeks ago in the 5,000 meters. A true pity for the brave paddler from San Sebastián, who surely will keep on trying. Just a few seconds behind, David R. Dorado got the third place over Borja Estomba.