Macotera, 1,000 inhabitants and Spanish marathon champions: "The people cannot die"

You arrive there on a Sunday and everything is normal, a town like others, Macotera, on the limit of 1,000 inhabitants, between Salamanca and Ávila, until groups of runners begin to appear, and more runners, and more runners.

They can be more than a hundred, they form the Macotera Athletics Club and they have a unique title: they are the team marathon champions of Spain.

Weeks ago, their victory against major clubs such as Cárnicas Serrano from Madrid put the town on the map and even today they receive calls from athletes from all over the country who want to be members.

The response from its president,

, is always the same: "Kindly tell them that it can't be."

"We don't want unknown people. This is a town club, although many of us live outside. We ask for at least two partners' endorsement. Most of us were born in Macotera, we spend the summer there, we spend the weekends there and we maintain the link through of athletics", explains Falogo and therein lies the paradox: the club's success stems from depopulation.

It is the result of the emptied Spain.

With agriculture as its engine, Macotera had more than 3,500 inhabitants in the post-war period, but little by little the figure was reduced until it remained at 1,001 residents last year.

There is less and less activity, Salamanca -45 kilometers away- has absorbed a good part of the population, but the strides serve to continue maintaining a link in the town.

"It all started in the summer of 2009. To take advantage of the people who are in the town in August, we set up a race just before the festivities, the Sanrocada, and shortly after we formed the club. People were encouraged to run and in a short time we were more than 100 members. Most of them are popular, but seven of us are federated and in 2017, in a Spanish half marathon championship, we realized that we could be there. And nothing, until we won the title this year", summarizes

, one of the architects of the recent victory.

His time in the last Zaragoza marathon (2:25), added to the time of his brother

(2:24) and that of his friend

(2:26), formed the shortest of all the teams, although there were representatives from Cárnicas Serrano, Bikila or AD Marathon, the best clubs in Spain.

They all shoulder

"The fact is that from Bikila, for example, only two finished and to compute you needed three runners, but we were also fair. Sometimes even we take credit away, but winning a Spanish championship is not easy at all," claims Bueno, who also took the national title for over 45 years.

Resident in Valladolid, but born in Macotera, he is one of those who get together on Sundays to run and help the club, because everyone works here.

Even if he is the champion of Spain, each member pays the fee, sells the lottery and organizes the meals that are needed to reach the 7,000 euros of the entity's budget that they give, among other things, to mount up to three races during the year.

There is also the sponsor, Jamones Prim, who has seen how his humble help to the town club ended up in a report on the La 1 newscast, among other media.

And a little help from the City Council that, yes, does not promise majors: an athletics track is impossible, to train on tartan a small group meets on Wednesdays in Salamanca.

"We cannot allow the towns to die. At least we help the town to be a little more crowded on the weekend. The meetups give a lot of excitement and the races we organize are important moments," says the president, Falogo, who among the triumphs of the club place, together with the Spanish championship, the many neighbors who have given up tobacco and have embraced a healthier life.

And the stays, of course, the stays.

In a town attacked by depopulation, athletics serves to meet again.

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