“Departure is delayed 10 minutes. It will start at 9:40.” He was raining hard on the seafront of Barcelona, specifically in the Fòrum. Not only that. The temperature was low and the wind was blowing. Hundreds of popular athletes gathered under a covered area, set up for the cloakroom and which served as an improvised place for warming up. The Unirun, the race that brings together the 12 Catalan universities, reached its tenth edition this Sunday and did so without a hitch. However, as if by magic, as soon as the starting gun was fired the rain stopped and spared the runners. Registration had been sold out for five weeks. Up to 5,000 people, with 50% female participation, had signed up. In practice, bad weather caused some 3,400 competitors to finish the race on a 5-kilometer route.
They were brave people who defied the inclement weather, although as the wind also disappeared and the circuit was fast, the best flew.
This is the case of the winners. In the men’s category, Pol Espinosa, from Ironwill Solideo and representing the University of Girona, won. He won with a time of 14m34s after a close fight with Joan Bru (14m40s), an athlete from Hospitalet and the International University of Catalonia. Third place went to Bilal Ziadi (14m53s), from Ironwill Solideo and the Ramon Llull University.
In the women’s category, Cristina Silva (16m54s), from Ironwill Solideo and the University of Vic, rose to first place on the podium. Silva, a regular among the triumphs in all the races in Catalonia, imposed her enormous quality, with an unfathomable pace for the rest of competitors. The fight for second and third place was much more even between various athletes who alternated in those positions during the race. Second place went to Paula Hritiuc (18m28s), an athlete from Barça and the Rovira i Virgili University. A sigh later, Miriam López Cuerva, from the Fondiesteam team defending the colors of the Autonomous University of Barcelona, reached the finish line in third place. López Cuerva managed the course from less to more until she surpassed most of her rivals to stop the clock at 18m34s.
As for the collective struggle, the University of Barcelona took the lead for yet another year. The UB won by team for the ninth time in the ten editions that have been held.
