Manuel Merillas, the world trail running star who runs with a Casio, a fanny pack sewn by his mother and is not going to “sell to marketing”

Manu Merillas has become one of the world’s great trail stars in recent years. He is a singular elite athlete. A hermit who decided to retire three years from ‘civilization’ to go live in a caravan in a semi-abandoned town, La Cueta, in León, at an altitude of 1,460 meters, without television, without radio and without telephone coverage.

At only 31 years old, he aims to be one of the great references for the future in mountain races. Despite his youth, he competes like an athlete from the 80s, with his Casio watch, a fanny pack and little attachment to technology. He lives as an ascetic, always trains with the only company of his dog, Czar of him.

No carbon fiber poles

His life, however, took a radical turn two years ago when the mountain met a mountaineer named Claudia Díaz. They dated and are now the parents of a few-month-old baby, Nel, and they live together in La Cueta, yes, but already in a house, not in the caravan that the runner abandoned a couple of years ago after three years inside. Now he feels strange with TV, with radio and even with high-speed internet, recently installed in the town, the family enjoys raising while Merillas explodes internationally.

“The truth is that in the last two years my life has totally changed,” he admits. Merillas recounts his story with joy, plus his time alone in the caravan in La Cueta, which he does not consider a dark period. Absolutely. “That made me refocus my priorities. They were three years in which I trained for life, in every way. As a runner, I stopped focusing on what the brands wanted and focused on doing what I liked, without depending on anyone, ”says Merillas, highly esteemed and also hated on the trail for his style.

Neither watches with five satellites, nor vests with soft flasks, nor carbon fiber poles, Merillas trains with a cheap Casio watch, a fanny pack that his mother sewed for him years ago and the bamboo poles that he makes by hand. He is usually quite critical of the introduction of technology in the mountains and, in fact, this, together with his low appetite for events and social networks, have cost him numerous sponsors. Now he only works with those who give him total freedom, without ties, like the Italian Scarpa.

“I am not going to sell myself because of marketing”

“I’ve also changed a bit in that regard lately. Claudia has also helped me a lot in that regard. She helps me move through social networks, for example. Although I am not going to sell myself because of marketing. I’m old school, I think we tend to get too complicated in the bush. If a brand of poles comes along and offers me a pasture to carry carbon fiber, I will do it, but it would have to be enough to retire soon after: if not, I don’t park my sticks”, says Merillas, with the more mountaineering profile of among all the mountain runners in the world.

Raised in Páramo del Sil and Valseco, also in El Bierzo, closer to Ponferrada, he learned to navigate the bush thanks to his family farmers, but he wanted to be a karateka or soccer player until he was 17 years old when he got to know the world of racing. mountain. His place. While studying FP in mechanics and even later, when he entered the Army, he continued running and from the age of 21 he achieved results, such as his victories in the Travesera de Picos de Europa or his first podium finish in Zegama. The injury then cut short a rapid promotion, but allowed him to start a new life. A lonely life, a modest life, a life of learning, and finally, a life filled with love. Life, how it changes.

Source: DDT and The world