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OVER 5000 PEOPLE PACK OUT MIRAFLORES STREETS DURING MARATHON
A perfect morning for the host country: two competitions, two gold medals.
More than 5000 people arrived at Parque Kennedy in Miraflores, start and end point for the marathon, and their long wait was well rewarded: they saw long-distance runners Gladys Tejeda and Christian Pacheco cross the finish line and win the gold medal in this 42K competition, the first ones for Peru. Both runners set new Pan American records in this discipline.
The sports celebration began at 06:30 in the streets of Miraflores, San Isidro, Lince and Cercado de Lima. Entire families approached the marathon route and encouraged each of the competitors running along Lima's main avenues.
The cheers could be heard throughout the marathon, which started at 08:30 in the women's event. It was all neatly organized: road closures from July 27 at 00:00 to organize the competition route, private and public transportation diversions in the nearby streets, hundreds of Peruvian Armed Forces and National Police members supervising the route, and the unconditional support of the local residents. They simply enjoyed this first-ever sports celebration, without even noticing the street closures.
“La Blanquirroja”, the Official Peruvian Team Supporters, arrived in the streets of Miraflores a few minutes before the competition started to cheer on the Peruvian athletes. Jaír Villanueva, leader of the fanbase, stated that the Lima 2019 Pan American Games are not just a source of price, but also an opportunity to show that Peruvian fans are really good hosts. “La Blanquirroja isn’t just a football fanbase, it’s for all sports,” he said.
He added that, to support the Pan American Games, they will be in most of the competitions. “We have agreed that “La Blanquirroja” will be multiplied and we will go to all the venues to root for our athletes, make feel them locals and tell them they are champions, they’re our champions,” he emphasized.
A few meters away, 77-year-old Marcelina Pucuharanga—Gladys Tejeda’s mother—arrived in Lima in the early morning of July 27 to encourage her youngest daughter (and to see her win). She was together with the Pan American champion's brother and Mayor of the Province of Junín Jorge Tejeda. He recalled how, as children, they used to through the puna to graze the sheep and the livestock.
“We used to run together and she would always beat me, she always got to the animals before me. In our hometown, she learned how to run and she understood that her dreams could come true, and that triumphs were not just about talent, but also about discipline and effort. Gladys has enough of both of them,” he reminisced.
Awarded by the President
Christian Pacheco crossed the finish line at 11:40 after running the 42K of the marathon competition, in the men's event. The people who attended and followed the entire route of the new Pan American champion would not move off the security fences protecting the marathon route until the medal ceremony ended.
Half an hour later, Peruvian President Martín Vizcarra Cornejo, joined by Panam Sports President Neven Ilic and COPAL President Carlos Neuhaus, awarded both winners with their gold medals and a ceramic model of the Lima 2019 official mascot Milco: a clay statuette made by Ayacucho master craftsmen representing the cuchimilco, an Anthropomorphic image from the Chancay culture.