The World Snowshoeing Championships will take place for the first time in Spain between 2 and 4 March. The Fuente Dé cable car, located in the Liébana region within the Picos de Europa National Park, will witness a unique spectacle in a place where numerous summer and winter sports competitions are held.
The snowshoeing world title race was presented this morning at the offices of the Proa CommunicationThe FEDME (Federación Española de Deportes de Montaña y Escalada), partner of the organisation of an event that will undoubtedly be exclusive, unique in Spain, and which in the last three years has had as a precedent the Spanish Championship of the speciality with the confidence of the FEDME (Federación Española de Deportes de Montaña y Escalada).
Not content with organising an event at national level, we wanted to take a step forward and with this intention we travelled to New York in February last year to present and subsequently win the bid for the 2018 edition of the World Championships. After competing with entries from Sweden, Japan, Italy and IndiaCantabria will host this event, which will be attended by representatives from 18 countries.
The professional event will bring together a total of 350 athletes, the maximum allowed by the national park, and around a similar number for a non-competitive event. For both editions the route will consist of a circuit of 4.25 kilometres that will have to be run twice (in total 8.5) with an accumulated difference in altitude of 400 metres through the area of the Lloroza lakes and the San Luis canal. Anyone who wishes to do so can sign up, as no ranking is required in order to participate. There will also be a junior category, with a distance of 5 kilometres. Athletes from Argentina, Chile, Brazil, the United States, Russia, Canada, Italy, France, Norway, Sweden and New Zealand will take part in this great sporting event.
All participants will be able to enjoy a opening ceremony, with a parade of all the countries taking part in the event, parades, audiovisual shows, a dinner for all the runners, a non-competitive evening event, as well as a multitude of activities and surprises. that will make the World Snowshoeing Championships an unforgettable experience.
With this international event organised by the active mountain tourism company Xtreme PeaksThe aim is to achieve greater visibility outside Spain, so that in the future more sporting and other events can be held in the area, attracted by the extraordinary landscape and culture, making it a recognisable destination throughout the world.
The World Snowshoeing Championships have the support of the Government of Cantabria, represented at the press conference by Manuel Bahíllo, Director of the Lebaniego Jubilee Year Society of the Government of CantabriaThe event takes place every 4, 5 or 11 years, as in the case of the last celebration, and coincides with the opening of the door of forgiveness in the Monastery of Santo Toribio, one of the 4 holy places of Christianity since the Middle Ages.
There will also be invaluable support from a multitude of well-known companies from the world of sport and other sectors.
Óscar Sebrango, Picos Xtreme Manager, emphasised during the press conference held this morning at Proa Comunicacion that "lhe holding of the first snowshoeing world championships in Spain is a very important step forward in the consolidation of winter sports in our country. The presence of some of the best in the world in this sport, such as Joseph Gray, current world champion; Stephan Ricard, champion in 2016; Roberto Ruiz, three times Spanish champion in this speciality; or Manuel Merillas, twice Spanish champion, makes this competition a truly unrepeatable world showcase".