Sunday Sport

The town of Jaén is close by and I don't feel like going far so I headed out there to see the sights.

There were lots of policemen stationed at junctions, even here at my starting point at Martos. I pass the first one on my best good-driver behaviour and turned onto the dual carriageway going north.

As I drove along, there appeared on the carriageway going south, police cars, motorbikes; both blocking the road and going slowly; and the a host of racing bikes in a great mass followed by loads of cars all sporting spare bikes on top.

It would have made a good picture as I was coming down a hill and I had a good view. I needed a camera savvy passenger!

And so I passed on to Jaén. I found a car park underground, and climbed out to explore. There is a big church in the town centre that I have visited before. The upstairs gallery affords some great views. I found my way in that direction.

At the church, there were hundreds of people dressed for running. I saw one registration with 999 on it. Music was playing and some more serious runners were warming up. However others were clearly there for the fun(?) of it as they came in all ages and all shapes and sizes!

I wandered passed them and found a place to sit in the shade of a tree. Others were there too, including more policemen and there was some anticipation in the air.

Fairly soon after, sportily clad people appeared and turning the corner in front of me, they descended the road. I took part by photographing them! Then they appeared again coming up the hill. Even by this point the front runners were far ahead of the back. They went round the circuit twice. Some running, others clearly finding it a struggle.

When the leaders did not appear for a third time, I assumed it was a 2 lap run (it did not look like it was a race for most people). I wandered back towards the car park, on the way passing the church again. This time the last of the runners were passing the far side, and some of the church were on the entrance balcony with musicians and loudspeakers. They were bringing out the service to the people. Just how much of the service each runner could hear I am not sure, but certainly more than they had expected.

Well it was Sunday after all.

Cordialement
Terry

Envoyé de mon iPhone