Legion cancels next year's 101-kilometre race in Ronda

The popular event is organised each May by the Spanish Legion based in the town, but many of the soldiers will be away on a six-month mission in Lebanon at that time next year

Vanessa Melgar

Ronda

Friday, 14 October 2022, 21:13

Every year during the second weekend in May the Spanish Legion based in Ronda holds its ‘101 Kilómetros’ competition, which involves running, walking or cycling 101 kilometres over rugged terrain in 24 hours. In 2023, however, this popular test of fitness will not take place.

The reason is that groups of the Ronda legionnaires will be on a six-month mission in Lebanon, and not enough left in the town to organise the event, the Legion has explained in a statement.

They did consider several options which might have enabled the competition to take place, but “in order to guarantee the safety of the participants and ensure that the event is a success, there is no alternative but to cancel it next year,” they said.

This is not the first time the 101 Kilómetros has been cancelled: it also happened in 2001, 2004 and 2010 because so many of those involved in the organisation were away on missions.

“We have always noticed that when it has not been possible to hold the event, the following years have been even more popular than normal,” the statement pointed out.

This year was the first time the competition took place after two years of the pandemic. It was the 23rd edition and a record 9,000 people took part.

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