Fernando Riaño and Jesús Celada are keen to win a medal for Spain at next Sunday’s Para Long Distance Duathlon World Championships in Zofingen (Switzerland) medals. The challenge consisted of walking 12km, tandem cycling 165km and finally running again for 34km.
The two Spanish athletes have been training hard for weeks to prepare for the most difficult world competition. After all, they faced a roughly ten-hour race in which speed was as important as endurance. “You have to have good legs, well-managed strength and above all, a clear head,” Riaño explained in an interview with Servimedia.
They are already content with another year on the World Cup starting line. After two years, Riaño had to run on asphalt and side by side with the guide Darío Pérez del Val, the two became a sports couple again and he loved Darío Pérez del Val gave various compliments. The Giarreras, both from the city of Riojaro, have achieved great success by winning gold medals in 2021 and 2022.
Two years ago, just days after traveling to Switzerland for a tournament, Jesús Cerrada was injured and the vision-impaired Riaño suddenly had to rely on Dario Perez’s eyes and legs. He called his athletes “neighbors”, who did not hesitate to pack their suitcases and head to Zofingen, where this mythical test is held every year in early September.
Now Director of Institutional Relations of the ONCE Social Group and President of the Servimedia news agency is once again accompanied by Jesús Cerrada, who has fully recovered from past physical problems. The two knew each other well and were similar in many ways: smiling, active, obsessed with sports, staunch supporters of disability rights, and only a few months apart in age.
Serrada admitted that Riaño has been his “first and only athletic partner” since they started exercising together in 2018. “I never had the opportunity to coach visually impaired athletes. Fernando wanted to compete in triathlons and long-distance triathlons. His previous coaching, Harvey, whom we will always remember and dedicate to victory, was injured. I gave up long-distance running and ran a marathon, Competed in a triathlon. My head and body were trained, but I couldn’t find the motivation to keep going. Compete,” he admitted.
Then, “fortunately Fernando came along”, Serrada resumed his wish, despite the “extreme responsibility of directing the tandem” and directed Riano in the race walk. “The fact that Fernando trusted my head, my hands and my legs is a source of pride that marks my personal and sporting life. Always grateful,” he added, full of enthusiasm to play together again .
The world’s first couple to achieve a double crown
Riaño and Serrada have played together in the same race and won twice. In 2018, they achieved the milestone of winning the gold medal, but in 2019 they won their second consecutive title and made history by becoming the first couple on earth to win the World Cup in two consecutive years.
The pandemic kept them out of contention for the 2020 trophy. When Rianho returned the following year and declared himself champion again, accompanied by Dario Perez, he dedicated his medal to National Guard Colonel Jesús Gayoso, a good Friend, died in Logroño in March 2017. This is the fateful year of the coronavirus, the head of the agency’s rapid action team.
For this reason, Riaño and Serrada (triathlete of the Ecosport club) traveled to Switzerland together again. In the coming days they will switch from training in La Rioja and Burgos to steeper training in Zofingen, having already triumphed in the most unfavorable conditions of cold, wind and rain in previous years.
“We spend a lot of time on the bike, training and racing, and 135 kilometers is a lot,” Serrada said. “I’m in charge of the physical part of the bike: the steering wheel, the brakes, the gears, the supplies, and my humble legs that accompany Fernando’s engine. He’s a great cyclist and, above all, a great motivator. Fernando , in addition to providing the engine nuclear power allows us to climb the demanding mountains of the World Championships, but also unlimited motivation, excitement and encouragement. So Fernando always brings this kind of encouragement, so that we can not think about retirement.”
Rianho even trained “strapped to a kid’s bike”, which made it easier for him to maneuver the handlebars due to his diminished eyesight. At 47, he is modest by nature and lowers expectations. He was content to “hold on at the beginning” and try to “go as far as possible” on the first part of the route to avoid falling and hot runners not escaping. “You have to know how to suffer, and always go from less to more,” he added.
“In such a long career, anything can happen. So it’s important to have a lot of conversations with your tandem and to always be in good coordination,” he thinks, realizing that in the first few years they had to climb several position to become a champion. “The most important thing is to stand on the starting line of the World Cup, enjoy the process of qualifying, enjoy every training session with friends and colleagues…everywhere, every meter traveled”.
Your partner has the same vision. “The result is the least important thing. Being in the Test already means a lot: hours of successful training, no injuries this year! The duo survived the flight…everything else has been enjoyed. If we can To be on the podium, we will celebrate anyway. The level of sport is getting higher every year and it is not easy to remain world champions, but with Fernando by his side, anything is possible,” Serrada told Servimedia.
In fact, in the Helvetia region, this time the challenge is enormous. Rianho opted to win the Para Long Distance Triathlon World Championships for the fifth time. In addition to his four world titles, he has another gold medal in cross-country triathlons and three Triathlon World Cups. This is by far the most difficult. But the manager of the ONCE social group didn’t know how to give up, and in his life, he overcame major obstacles.
The same thing happened to Jesús Serrada, who is now back as Riaño’s guide. Until two years ago, he was Director of the Spanish Government’s Bureau for Disability Policy and is now a regional representative in the Madrid Parliament. In defense of the rights of this group, they are always united in the same team, but on the bike, they must combine their legs, rhythm and mentality to prevail over other opponents.