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.

Tono Campos is the new Spanish Winter C1 Champion over 5,000 metres

The C1 Man Senior served on Sunday morning in Seville to verify, as it happened in the K1 Women, that a new generation of canoeists is on the track to follow the great paddlers already established. Many U23 paddlers and good times in the race.

Campos followed by Romero. Photo: Fotoyos

After a clean enough start, considering they were 70 paddlers (although not without two or three capsizes, as usual in this discipline), the seeded paddlers were grouped on the left side of the channel to slowly become a reduced group of four paddlers in the return to the first turn at the finish line. Diego Romero commanded the race with Sánchez and Campos on the side washes while the young U23 Alan Ávila was hardly keeping the diamond wash, which he lost just by the third kilometre of race, paying the big effort of keeping the strong pace of the big ones.

A little further back, Manuel Garrido tried to close the gap lost after a poor start and came vigorously about 50 meters behind of Ávila, who tried desperately to return to the leading group, but with no success.