A commemorative plaque, discovered this Tuesday in Los Machucos, recognizes the feat of the Cantabrian athlete Borja Ortiz, who in 2021 managed to make 26 consecutive bicycle climbs to this port in the region.
The Minister of Culture, Tourism and Sports, Eva Guillermina Fernández, and the mayor of Arredondo, Leoncio Carrascal, have participated in the ceremony to recognize the cyclist and the feat accomplished, since he managed to accumulate 17,700 meters of positive slope after nearly 40 hours on his bicycle.
Borja Ortiz, who has also received a collage made by photographer César Gómez, has emotionally relived the feat achieved and has assured that two years after achieving the feat he is especially excited about this tribute when remembering it.
The athlete has also assured that this act gives him encouragement to continue moving forward in other types of challenges “as long as the body holds out,” he added.
Fernández has highlighted Ortiz’s physical potential and, also, his “extraordinary” mental qualities, which have made him overcome this important challenge.
And the councilor has expressed his satisfaction for having been able to pay this “deserved tribute” to Borja Ortiz and has taken the opportunity to ask the counselor that La Vuelta 2025 runs again through Los Machucos.
Borja Ortiz is also recognized for other challenges such as the swim from Castro Urdiales to Santander, covering, in 2014, 51 kilometers in 16 hours, and from Santander to San Vicente de la Barquera, with 54 kilometers and 18 hours.
In ski touring he has crossed all of Cantabria from Puerto de Los Tornos to Potes, which means traveling 150 kilometers in 48 consecutive hours.
And in 2016 he completed an extreme triathlon that took him to swim the 15 kilometers that separate Virgen del Mar and Puertochico, in Santander; ride the 157 kilometers between Santander and the Lakes of Covadonga by bicycle; and travel on foot the 236 kilometers from Los Lagos to Potes, with 70 kilometers and more than 5,000 meters of positive gradient.
Among his bicycle achievements is also the ascent of the nine toughest passes in the Pyrenees that are covered in the Tour de France, accumulating 10,000 meters of positive gradient, 22 hours in a row and 363 kilometers on the bicycle.
In addition, it has met the objective of climbing the 27 passes of Cantabria in 55 consecutive hours, 20,000 meters of positive slope and 810 kilometers.
