Cieza will host the Spanish Race Walking Championship on February 15th, with nearly 350 athletes.

The regional government presented the Spanish Race Walking Championships at the International Tourism Fair. The event, to be held on February 15th in Cieza, will bring together approximately 350 registered athletes from across the country. This official competition, included in the national calendar of the Royal Spanish Athletics Federation, serves as a qualifier for the European Championships in the Czech Republic and the World Championships in the same discipline, which will take place in Brazil in April.

The Director General of Sports, Fran Sánchez, who participated in the presentation along with the Mayor of Cieza, Tomás Rubio, and the representatives of the national Athletics Federation, Raúl Chapado, and the regional Athletics Federation, José Antonio Cutillas, highlighted that the designation of Cieza as the venue "strengthens the Region's position as a sports tourism destination and as a historical benchmark for Spanish race walking," and emphasized the economic, social, and tourist impact that the event will generate in the municipality and throughout the Community.

The championship will include a marathon race walk in the senior and masters categories, as well as 10-kilometer races for Under-20 and Under-18 athletes, and a 5-kilometer race for Under-16 athletes, both individually and through regional federations. The competition will take place on a certified 2-kilometer urban circuit, starting and finishing in the Plaza de España, bringing the sporting spectacle closer to the town center.

The event is organized by the Royal Spanish Athletics Federation and the Athletics Federation of the Region of Murcia, with the collaboration of the General Directorate of Sports of the Autonomous Community and the Cieza City Council.

The regional government has framed this commitment "within the solid tradition of race walking in Murcia, with national and international figures such as coach José Antonio Carrillo and race walkers Juanma Molina and Miguel Ángel López, key figures who have helped to position the Region of Murcia as one of the main breeding grounds for this discipline in Spain," Fran Sánchez pointed out.

With this event, Cieza will become the national epicenter of athletic walking, within the regional government's strategy to promote sport as an engine for tourism promotion, economic development and international projection.