Macedo expressed her disappointment at finishing ninth in female category in Ronda 101

Nicky Macedo once again kept Gibraltar punching above its weight, as some would describe it, with a finish in the La Legión 101 km de Ronda in 612th place from close to 3,700 competitors. This despite being caught among the starting pack, which led to a significant delay before she even crossed the start line.

The Gibraltar athlete, who has recently been making headlines with her feats, expressed disappointment at her starting position, highlighting the high standards she has already set herself whilst describing how she manoeuvred from 1,777th place to finish 612th, ninth female to cross the finish line, in what was a gruelling race even for the toughest competitors.

The Ronda 101 is considered a demanding challenge where even the start of the race presents its own difficulties, as Macedo discovered in her first attempt at the event.

“What can I say about the La Legión 101 km de Ronda? It was absolute mayhem. With around 3,700 participants on the course, it was incredibly difficult to truly race.

“It took me nearly twenty minutes just to cross the start line, and my time was running from the gun. For the first 50 km, I was largely stuck in the flow of riders and could only move at the pace of the pack — unfortunately much slower than I had hoped for. Overtaking was difficult, and during one attempt I was taken out by another rider. Thankfully, he stopped to help me get my bike sorted so I could continue, albeit a little bruised.

“As the course reached some of the steeper climbs, so many riders were forced to walk that there was little choice but to do the same, which was frustrating as I had really wanted to try and ride those sections. Then the rain arrived, turning another climb into deep mud. At one point my wheels would barely turn and my chain repeatedly came off. Despite all of that, whenever the trail opened up, I pushed hard to make up as much time as possible.

“At the first checkpoint I was sitting 1,777th overall and 39th woman. By the finish, I had fought my way up to 612th overall and ninth woman out of 95 female competitors. The route ended up being 102 km with 2,880 metres of elevation gain.

“Although I’m disappointed I never really had the opportunity to get into the race the way I wanted, I’m still proud of what I achieved — especially digging in and continuing after the crash.

“The event itself was very well organised, with a lovely route going through multiple towns and spectacular views. The support on course was amazing.”

The Ronda 101 route underwent changes this year due to the storms which hit the Ronda mountain range earlier in the year. Organisers made small modifications to the route in order to guarantee the safe running of the race and allow affected areas to recover and stabilise following the damage caused by the storms.
Macedo will be competing again this weekend before focusing on her preparations towards the qualifiers for the Island Games.