Sara Encalada, Paula Torres and Nathaly León carry athletic walking in their blood. They are part of the group that Professor Julio Chuqui trains. In their first competition of the year, the first two improved their personal best by 10 and 20 km, respectively.
The third searched for the same in 35 km. Although she won first place, the Machala climate treated her badly during the competition and prevented her from achieving her goal.
Despite their daily effort to improve times and look for the tricolor flag to shine at the top of the podium, they feel somewhat unprotected. They must seek by their own means the resources to pay for the services of professionals in various areas.
Since January they do not have the multidisciplinary team of the Ministry of Sport. Said entity does not have the funds to hire personnel to assist athletes from various branches.
Getting $30 for two physical therapy sessions a week isn’t easy. The situation becomes more complex because they need a sports doctor, nutritionist, psychologist. Also for clothing, especially for footwear, which wears out the most.
Rumbo and Dudince
Nathaly Leon is 24 years old. In the High Performance Plan she is in the Events category. Paradoxically, when he went to request support to go on the Dudince World Tour on March 25, they told him that there is no money, that it might arrive in April and that he apologized. Manuel León, his father, is in the United States.
“He is covering all expenses because I honestly knocked on doors at some companies and they told me that they don’t have enough money and hopefully another time… The flights are ready, I just need a place to stay.”
“La cuy” -as her friends call her- was born in Narancay. Almost two weeks ago she was surprised to see how in Cumbe -his father’s homeland- the first place in 35 km that he obtained in the National and World Tour of Machala “Luis Chocho Sanmartín” was highlighted. His goal was to win by improving his personal best (2h54m45s), but he crossed the finish line in 3h06m42s.
“More or less at km 12, the temperature and humidity began to rise a lot. As much as I tried to put ice on my head, carry ice in my hands, put ice on my neck, I couldn’t adapt my body to the climate. Then, around km 28, I had to slow down a bit because I started to vomit. When I recovered it was too late. There was less than 10 km to go and I couldn’t make up for lost time”.
spiritual balance
Paula Torres, 22, adapts better and better in the 20 km. She was second in Machala with 1h30m34s. She improved her personal best by more than four minutes (1h34m17s), which put her in the 2021 National Macas.
One of his objectives is to find the minimum mark for Paris 2024 (1h29m20s). He wants to try it in La Coruña, on June 3. The main obstacle is money. His visits to companies were not fruitful either.
“It has always been seen that one is expected to achieve a big result first before the support begins to arrive. But the support must come since we are in our preparation ”.
Paula tries not to let adversity affect her. For her, it is important to maintain a healthy mind to achieve a spiritual balance that, she assures, goes beyond any religious doctrine.
“The idea is to live with love towards oneself and towards others, although the truth is that it is very difficult for people to put it into practice”.
The South American U23 champion believes that good results come when there is a good synergy with the work team. Also when there is a constant improvement in everything that involves the preparation of an athlete.
In this sense, he maintains that he needs to better manage emotions to speed up the pace at the right time, not when he feels he can go faster.
junior senior year
On March 16, Sara Encalada will be 19 years old. As it is her last season as a youth, she longs to go to the South American U20 that will take place in Bogotá, Colombia, from May 19 to 21.
In Machala he obtained first place in 10 km with 50m06s. Although he improved his personal best (52m52s), he was not enough to qualify for the regional contest.
“I do not know what happened. There was like a mental vacuum during the competition. I lost two kilometers without realizing it, ”she confesses. He now aims to set the mark in the Nacional and Interclubes U20 to take place in Quito on April 22 and 23.
Sara does not want to miss the South American, aware that later she will have to redouble her efforts to focus on the 20 km. She attributes her improvement in her time to teamwork and being surrounded by marchers with a great continental and world tour such as Glenda Morejón.
Like her colleagues, she hopes that the Ministry of Sports will soon attend to their needs and at least support them with the multidisciplinary team.
