Brazilian Johnatas Cruz and Venezuelan Magaly García win the Caf 2025 marathon

The Brazilian Johnatas Cruz, with a time of 2h.18.25, and the Venezuelan Magaly García, with 2h.36.44, won the ninth edition of the marathon organized by the Latin American Development Bank (CAF) in Caracas.

EFE

In the male category, the Mexican Luis Vázquez, who completed the 42.19 kilometers in 2H.21.43, was the second to arrive, followed by the Venezuelan Pedro Puentes, whom he took 2h.24.08.

Cruz, fourth in the International Race of San Silvestre – the main athletic competition of Brazil – held last December, declared himself happy and dedicated his victory to God, in addition to thanking «everyone here who do this brilliant marathon.»

Meanwhile, in the women’s test, García was followed by the winner of the last edition, the Colombian Lina Pantoja, who this time crossed the finish line when the stopwatch marked 2h.37.19, and third the Bolivian Jhoselyn Camargo, in 2h.38.19.

Garcia also expressed his gratitude to God «for the opportunity to be here again, competing.»

«We believed it, we worked (…) and we come to look for that first place,» said the broker, who celebrated that «the triumph stays in the house,» and also congratulated Pantoja, with whom, he pointed out, «she had» a close career».

On the other hand, in the test for athletes with reduced mobility, the Venezuelan Juan Valladares triumphed for the second consecutive year, today with a time of 1h.49.10, while in the female dispute, Venezuelan Paralympic athlete Yenny Yenny Ruza, with 3h. 19.06.

The Spanish Rafael Botello, second in this modality, with a time of 1h.54.57, told Efe that this was his first time in Venezuela, where he felt «well, very happy and very grateful» for the organization of the marathon and with » the people and the country »for the invitation.

«For me it is a real pride that from Venezuela calls a Spaniard to come here to run,» said Botello, who said he prepared since mid -November for this race, which he described as «very beautiful» but «very hard» , and now he gets ready, he added, to participate in competitions in Los Angeles, Boston and London.

The journey

The marathon began about 6.00 local time (10.00 GMT) in Los Caobos Park, in western Caracas, and covered a large part of the capital.

Thousands of marathoners of different ages and backgrounds, both inside and outside the Caribbean country, toured various emblematic and historical areas of a city that still slept and that was gradually discovered with the sunrise.

This year, according to the CAF, about 6,000 runners participated in the different modalities and categories, of a total of 17 countries, including elite athletes from Jamaica, Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia, Panama, Dominican Republic, Uruguay and Colombia.

Numerous police officers guaranteed the safety of the race, where there were also medical equipment and hydration points, as well as platforms with musicians from the world -known orchestra system of Venezuela, which interpreted the national anthem at the beginning of the marathon.

In addition, in different points of the journey, there were citizens who with their words and writings in banners supported, encouraged and motivated the marathoners, for whom it is also an emotional activity and an opportunity to represent their country, such as Garcia, who took with pride the Venezuelan flag when crossing the goal.