Persecuted by their idees

On the night of December 2nd to 3rd, the traditional “Rosa del Nord” Night Run was held, which commemorates the passage of a group of fugitives -in which Saint Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer was going- through the Pyrenees to enter Andorra on the night of December 1-2, 1937.

With this race we want to remember the passage of thousands of people persecuted by totalitarian ideologies during the Spanish Civil War (1936-39) and the Second World War (1942-1945). These ideologies imposed terror on a good number of people who were forced to flee at night, crossing rivers and mountains, to recover the freedom that was denied to them in their countries of origin. The fugitives were usually in scanty clothing, poor footwear, little food, extreme cold and fatigue.

That’s why this race is done at night, without provisions, in self-sufficiency and in pairs, to show what those expeditions through the Pyrenees could be like to reach freedom.

The race starts at the Sports Center of Bellestar and ends at the Sports Center of Sant Julià de Lòria. They are 22 km long with a positive gradient of 1,600 meters.

In addition to the Race, there is also a Walk, with the same itinerary but with different departure times.

The organization was run by the Andorran company VSL SPORTS and the Associació d’Amics del Camí de Pallerols de Rialb in Andorra, with the collaboration of the Commune of Sant Julià de Lòria and the Lleida company CUPASA and the Sponsorship of 226ERS and SISMIC.

This year the participants were the following:

In the Race, 78 people: 55 men and 23 women

On the Walk, 28 people: 20 men and 8 women

Others who walked without registering: 10 people

Abandonments: 6 people

Volunteers: 15 people

Total participants: 131 people

The times used in the Race were as follows:

The fastest couple 2 h 33 min. 40 sec

The least fast 5 h 00 min. 00 sec

And the winners were:

Women

1 MIREIA MONISTROL LLORENS

ROSER ESPAÑOL BADA 3h18:10.551

2 BEA PRIOR DE SOLA

MIREIA FUMENAL ARTÉS 3h36:06.625 a 17:56.074

3 SONIA ATANES FERREIRO

IRATI AZKARGORTA GALARZA 3h44:15.230 a 26:04.679

Mixed: Woman – Man

1 ANNA ONGARO

JORDI GALLART 3h06:25.085

2 LAIA AGUILAR

MARC RASERA 3h21:58.855 a 15:33.770

3 CARLA LOPEZ PEREZ

JOAN PEREZ GARCIA 3h31:06.589 a 24:41.504

Men

1 JORDI GALLEGO GALLARDO

JORDI CIFUENTES CATENA 2h33:40.554

2 JORDI CORRE ORRI

GUILLEM AUBACH COSTA 2h34:33.848 a 53.294

3 BERNAT FALOMI SILLA

ROC PONT FALOMÍ 2h42:37.023 a 8:56.469

You can see extensive information on the VSL SPORTS website