The first race of the season was in the unfortunately named town of Cacabelos, “caca” being Spanish for what is popularly known as “cack” in the Black Country. This is a good point of departure for linguists wishing to investigate similarities between contemporary Spanish and Black Country English.
Cacabelos enters my own shortlist of inappropriately named towns and villages along with nearby Calamocos which in Spanish sounds a bit like “falling bogeys". A journey through Andalucia a couple of years ago also revealed 3 gems. The village of Cabra (“goat”
was followed in quick succession by Guarroman (this sounds like some sort of “Spanglish”. Translates as “dirty old man”
and then my favourite, Venta de Pantalones (“sale of trousers”
. In fact Cacabelos could easily be twinned with a place that I seem to remember from my Devon days, the quaint little Dartmoor village of Crapstone. Anyway….back to the plot,
the first race of the season was in the unfortunately named town of Cacabelos, a lively agricultural town on the St James way in the midst of some of Bierzo’s most productive vineyards. At first I treated this 10k with a certain suspicion as the last time I’d run here in the 2003 Cacabelos half marathon the finish line packed up and went home once the first ten runners had passed. But as it happened my dad was over for a visit and Miguel mushroom also fancied a run and so after a hefty Maundy Thursday lunch we all made the short journey over from Ponferrada and collected our race numbers. And we weren’t to be disappointed. Excellent, flat 3-lap circuit, well supported, reasonably well organized and with a top goody bag…..all for free. Wow!
An enthusiastic man waving a red flag started us off from just outside the town sports hall. About 150 runners were taking part. Miguel mushroom, Bierzo Baggie and Bierzo Baggie senior (now “the Ludlow loper”
made a cautious start at the rear of the field as it was the hottest day of the year and my dad’s first race since the mid-90s. We ran through the centre of Cacabelos and through the older part of town where wooden balconies overhang the narrow streets. Then it was out through the agricultural peripheries, green and lush at this time of year and where we joined the butterflies who danced alongside a little stream. BB senior the Ludlow loper struggled in the heat and complained of the proximity of lunch. Why do they programme these races for the afternoon? No surprises then when he pulled out at the end of the first lap which was a shame as he would have been top-3 in his category. Me and Miguel mushroom upped the pace a bit but were soon lapped by the front runners which included local hero Chus Alonso. Finished in a respectable 54 minutes after a highly enjoyable race. And how about this for the goody bag? (and which they also gave to dad despite not finishing).
1 bottle of Cacabelos wine.
1 running gladiator t-shirt (the gladiator being a reference to the town’s roman origins).
1 wooden garlic crusher.
1 bottle of flavoured welsh mineral water (Radnor hills…which by weird coincidence is just up the road from Ludlow).
2 chocolate cakes.
1 cereal bar.
Will try and race once a month from now on. Next on the agenda is the Truchillas- Vizcodillo mountain race on May 21st.
Random running and remote races.
