Never mix sport and politics, repeats the warning, and responds Núria Picas, who took sport, took politics and shook both things together with force. From 2010 and 2019 she was a legend of ultra-distance races in the mountains, the only Spanish winner in the important Ultra Trail of Mont Blanc (UTMB), and from 2019 to last year she was a deputy for Esquerra in the Parliament of Catalonia. At more than one goal she appeared with a estelada and in the chamber, with sneakers and a GPS watch. Never mix sport and politics, she says. And Spades, no matter.
At 46 years old, this Saturday Picas finished fifth in the Salomon Ultra Pirineu, a 100-kilometer race that begins and ends in Bagà, a race that he has already won five times, and confirmed that he will continue running until eternity catches up with him. In 2019, an injury to the talus in her left foot almost took her out of it, but she fought to quit whenever she wanted. Now, already recovered, she will possibly reach 50 or, who knows, 55, in competition. She has always had a contract with Salomon and for next year she has already secured qualification for the UTMB, so she will soon compete again with the best in the world.
«When I was rehabbing the injury, I started running again, just 10, 12 or 14 minutes at a time, and I realized that running without a goal was very boring. Competing is my life and I don’t think I will ever retire. I won’t win races, but I will continue doing sports, putting on bibs. I hope one day I can run an Ultra Pirineu with my grandchildren,” dreams Picas, mother of two twin children, hawthorn y Roc, and firefighter in Berga Park, where she has lived for years. She daughter of Gabriel Picasa mountaineer who ascended Makalu in 1976, has tried twice without luck to climb the fifth highest peak on Earth and his future also seems there, on the roofs of the world.
Picas, born in 1976 in Manresa, always lived in the mountains and made her racing debut an eternity ago in 1999, in the Aneto marathon, where she finished third. She then focused on rock climbing and adventure raids, but in 2010 she entered the Catalan trail team, along with Kilian Jornet and, from there, its emergence. Then came the victories in Japan, Australia, Hong Kong or UTMB. Then Esquerra’s offer to be a deputy in the Parliament would arrive. Never mix sport and politics, they say. And Spades, no matter.