El Salvador will host the Pan American Downhill Championship 2024, which will be held at the Ecoparque El Espino, from September 26 to 29 and is expected to receive approximately 200 cyclists from 10 nations, sponsored by the Pan American Cycling Confederation and the Salvadoran Cycling Federation (FSV).
The event will begin this Thursday with official training sessions on the two-kilometer track where the competitions will be held. On Friday 27, group A classifications will be held in the open, cadets, pre-juvenile and master categories C1, B2, C1 and C4, between 2:00 and 5:00 in the afternoon, local time (1:00 to 4:00 pm in Colombia).
On Saturday 28, from 10:30 am to 2:30 pm (El Salvador time), the Group B classifications will be disputed, in the elite, junior and master A1 and A2 categories, while from 2:30 pm to 5:00 pm, the Group A finals will be held.
The Pan American Downhill Championship will culminate on Sunday, September 29, with the junior finals in both categories, starting at 9:30 in the morning, and with the elite and master finals, to be held after 1:30 in the afternoon.
The main Salvadoran figure that will be present in this competition for the national delegation will be Mariana Salazar, who said she is happy to be able to compete in such an important event and that for the first time will be held in the country.
After her arrival in El Salvador, Mariana expressed that she is anxious to be part of the Salvadoran delegation that will compete in the Pan American Games and assured that she is prepared to face this new challenge.
“I feel a little nervous, but mentally I come ready and my goal is to give 100 percent in this competition, which for the first time will be held in El Salvador. I have worked smart to be in this event and we will fight to be protagonist”, said Salazar.
It is worth mentioning that the national said that since this is the first time that the country will host this event, which is the most important for this modality, she could not refuse to compete.
“I have been in this sport for 14 years and not racing in the one organized in my country was not an option, it was something unfair for me. My goal is to be on the podium, the competition will be tough and the rivals are difficult, I will look for a second or third place, since I am not at my best, besides this is a risky sport that anything can happen, “said the cyclist.
Mariana is currently runner-up in her category, title won in 2023, in Cusco, Peru, so she hopes to make an adequate presentation to be one of the local competitors.
One of Salazar’s objectives in this Pan American is to show how good organizers we are as a country and seek to be a protagonist as everyone expects.
“When I realized that El Salvador was going to host the event, I approached the federation to offer my help in any way I could and I notified them if I wanted to participate. I have been very attentive to everything that is going to happen, because I want to show the world that this country is supporting the sport”, he commented.
In this event, the vice-president of the FSC, René Magaña, said that in this event there will be riders from Canada to Brazil and delegations with weight as Chile, Colombia, United States, Mexico, Peru and Argentina, among others.
“This is a UCI event, with non-official categories and these events always have development tests such as children, by age, cadets, youth, officials, elite and under-23, as well as master, the idea is to compete and massify,” said Magaña.
El Salvador will have 18 riders, among them Salazar, from whom the federation expects an excellent performance.
Source: http:// indes.gob.sv