Spanish Marathon Championships (II): Iván Alonso claims a great K1 victory

The day before, Saturday, it was time for the K1s, where the local Iván Alonso was the main favorite, as he already won in spring the Spanish Cup and the World Cup at Copenhaguen. At the start line, fighting for their chance, were some other great paddlers like Jorge Alonso, José Julián Becerro, Rafael Carril, Xabier Ruíz de Aretxabaleta, David Rodríguez Dorado and even Julio Martínez, paddling again on a K1 since a long time ago.

From the first lap, all of this favorites were in the leading group, except surprisingly Julio Martínez and José Julián Becerro, suffering just a few metres behind, and José María Pariente, Spanish Champion just two years ago, who didn’t look like having his best day. The positive surprise was the appearance among the best ones of Julio Moreno, one of the outsiders of the race.

The very steep bank for the portage. Photo: Fotoyos

At half of the competition, more or less, it was pretty clear who would be the candidates for the two quota places for Rome, es there were four solid leaders (Xabier Ruiz de Aretxabaleta, Iván Alonso, Jorge Alonso y David Rodríguez Dorado) and three paddlers who went forth and back on each lap, suffering to much to be considered in good position for the medals (Rafael Carril, Julio Moreno y José Julián Becerro). This last one, Becerro, finally retired and only Carril managed to stay forward until the end.


On the lead, Iván Alonso was showing himself very strong at the portages and always looked to have the race under control. And as he made in Copenhaguen at the World Cup, at the last portage, with just 800 metres to go, he made a superb run who let him board with a few metres of advantage, enough to face the finish line on his own. Just 20 metres behind, the fight for the remaining medals was terrific between Aretxabaleta, Dorado and Jorge Alonso. The first one then took his risk at the exit of the portage, but he capsized and then lost all his chances.

Then, Iván Alonso was claiming his first Spanish Championship and he’s going to Rome with good chances of being on the podium, even fighting for gold against the top international paddlers, if McGregor is not imposing his dictatorship, as shown in Singapore 2011.

From left to right: Jorge Alonso, David R. Dorado, Xabier R. de Aretxabaleta and Iván Alonso. Foto: Fotoyos

In the final sprint for the silver medal, David R. Dorado managed to get a well deserved second position and his berth for the World Championships in his first senior year, while Jorge Alonso got bronze. Rafael Carril finally got the fourth position surpassing Aretxabaleta when he was trying to get the water out of his kayak after the capsize. The brave Basque ended in fifth position.