Cruce de Los Andes 2009 : Part III

February2

Last year the Cruce was amazing like every year I raced! I did not have a partner and a good friend of mine “Ramiro Paris” told me he may know somebody that would race with me. Peter Vail from Canada was my partner, a fast guy: 2°21’ for the marathon! Ramiro and Peter climbed the Aconcagua a couple of days after the race.

Volcan Pucon

Esteban, Ramiro, Pablo, Manuel and Peter before the race

The race started in San Martin de Los Andes. I stayed there with some friends that used to live in Cordoba.

The first stage was hard but amazing. We run most of the time with Ramiro Paris and Julian Peralta. The last 8 km were down hill and we made a difference. We won the first stage.

Running down the Volcano

Cruzando un arroyo

The second day was the harder for me, most of the course was flat and we run on the road. When your partner runs a marathon in 2°21’ it’s hard… We got lost and we lose a couple of minutes too. We finished 5^th and we were 4^th overall.

The last stage was my favourite one. Up, down, up, down. It was the longest one, we run 41 km. I felt great up in the mountains and I enjoyed the course a lot. We finished 3er on that stage and 3er overall.

Peter and me after the second day

El campamento con los chicos del sur! Gracias por estar siempre!

El campamento

Finish line: first stage

Thank you Peter for coming and racing with me. It was great meeting you and I’m looking forward to see you.

It was a great experience. I love the race, the places where we run, and the time we spend up in the mountains after each stage. We did camp with Ramiro, Julian, Manuel and Esteban.

I think you know better somebody when you spend time in the most challenging moments. I had the chance to race shoulder to shoulder against Ramiro and I admire and I respect him so much. He is one of the fastest marathon runners in Argentina and he is an excellent person. He is a gentleman! I would love to have the opportunity to race with him ones!