The following release was provided by Spanish journalist Sergio Mayayo and features two international events to be hosted in Canfranc-Pirineos, one in 2024 and another in 2025.
Excitement is building in Spain as mountain and trail running prospers in the nation and worldwide. After successful WMRA World Cup events held at CanfrancCanfranc, Spain in 2021, 2022 and 2023, Aragón will host the World Masters Mountain Running Championships from September 13-15, 2024. This event will serve as the perfect rehearsal for the biannual celebration of the World Mountain and Trail Running Championships (WMTRC), which will hold their third edition September, 2 5-28, 2025.
The major players in Canfranc-Pirineos gather on January 25, 2024 in Madrid, Spain.
Setting the stage
On January 25, the world presentation of the calendar and program for the next WMTRC Canfranc-Pirineos 2025 took place within the International Tourism Fair in Madrid (FITUR). All the key players involved in in the event attended, with the RFEA represented by its president Raúl Chapado, who acted as host in Madrid, accompanied by Cristina García, General Director of Sports for the Government of Aragon, Félix Jordán, General Director of the Young Sports Foundation representing the Higher Sports Council (CSD), José Cebollero, Deputy of Sports of the Provincial Council of Huesca, Fernando Sánchez, Mayor of Canfranc, and Alex Varela, Director of the CanfrancPirineos Project.
World Mountain and Trail Running Championships Canfranc-Pirineos 2025
The third edition of the unified world championship brings together all events under World Athletics patronage, together with partners IAU, ITRA and WMRA. This celebration of the sport will take place for the first time in the Pyrenees, succeeding those already held in Chiang-Mai, Thailand (2022), and Innsbruck-Stubai, Austria (2023).
This relatively young event has already established itself as the world’s best stage to showcase the four races it hosts: Vertical Uphill, Classic, Short Trail and Long Trail. In accordance with the recent edition in the Tyrolean Alps, the Aragonese Pyrenees expects to host over 60 national teams that will total almost 2,000 athletes, bringing together the world’s elite, proud to officially represent their respective countries.
This global event will showcase outstanding national teams from all continents, who will compete once again to lead the historic medal table. Kenya and Uganda will arrive as top favorites from Africa, while from North America, the United States, Canada and Mexico will be strong contenders. Europe is also a powerhouse, led by France as the historical medal count leader followed by Germany, Switzerland, Italy and the United Kingdom.
Against all of them, the Spanish team presented by the RFEA, will make it a mission to surpass the medals achieved in Thailand and Austria, where the successes of the Spanish young talents laid the best guarantee that not only is there a solid present for the host, , but that Spaniards are also looking into an extraordinary future in the sport.
The event will carry out WADA anti-doping protocol, the same one that governs the Paris 2024 Olympic Games and where Canfranc was a pioneer among mountain races throughout Spain.
Part of the USA contingent at the 2023 World Masters Mountain and Trail Running Championships opening ceremony.
World Masters Mountain and Trail Running Championships Canfranc-Pirineos 2024
Canfranc received the WMRA flag from World Masters Mountain and Trail Running Championships host Madeira, Portugal, in 2023 at the culmination of the event in September and look forward to hosting the event in late summer 2024. It will be the first time that this great international event will be staged in Spain.
The 2024 Masters World Mountain and Trail Running Championship is also the first edition in history to host three races (Uphill, Classic and Long Distance). These events will highlight the passion and quality of the masters athletes (+35 years old to age 79), which aims to gather the largest number of registered participants in its long history, exceeding 1,200 runners. The event is open to athletes aged 35-79 provided they are members of their respective national athletic federations.
From Friday to Sunday, September 13-15, Canfranc will host the Uphill, Long Distance and Classic races, all under the umbrella of World Mountain Running Association (WMRA) and organized jointly with World Masters Athletics (WMA). The winning bid by the Aragonese region highlighted the long experience in the organization hosting events such as the CanfrancCanfranc for 17 editions, three editions of the WMRA World Cup, as well as several Spanish Championships.
To register, visit the official website here.
Editor’s Note: Enjoy an article from the 2023 Championships here.
On course at Canfranc-Canfranc. Photo: Yharbril
Canfranc-Pirineos: a sustainable future in the mountains
These sports projects for Canfranc blend into a long tradition of sustainable development in these mountains. This tiny mountain village of just 400 inhabitants within the Alto Aragón is on the verge of celebrating the first century of the Canfranc International Station and the pioneering environmental work by engineer Benito Ayerbe to protect it, with millions of trees planted on formerly barren mountain slopes. A historical green heritage that has now been revived to its greatest splendor with the reopening of the Station in its original style as a 5-star luxury hotel operated by Barcelo Royal Hideaway.
In this 21st century, Canfranc is preparing to go further, creating the first special natural protection area in all Aragon, in order to recognize and protect the legacy of those environmental pioneers from the Belle Epoque. Since then, this town chose to live by blending in with its mountains: Taking care of them and enhancing the best of them for world travelers and sportsmen alike.
Today, this tradition remains more alive than ever with the Canfranc Canfranc mountain races, together with a network of more than 500 kilometers of trails marked and mapped for the safe use of any visitor. New outdoor projects are in the pipeline, such as a new via ferrata that will allow visitors to discover new dimensions of the Pyrenees.
