The city of Valencia holds a great athletics tradition and is one of the leading Spanish cities at that respect thanks to the numerous top-class events hosted throughout its history. Its origins date back to the 1920's when the Valencian Athletics Federation was founded in 1924. That year also marked the birth of important events such as the Valencian Cross Country Championships and the "Volta a Peu". That decade of the 20's also staged a Spanish Championships foe the first time- at cross country - with start and finish at the Mestalla stadium.
Since then the city has hosted many Spanish Championships, remarkably the outdoor track championships back in 1941 and 1992, the quoted Cross Country champs in 1927 and also in 1967, Walking Race championships in 1950, 1968, 1983 and 1991 plus Marathon championships in 1957, 1959, 1988, 1993 and 2000. But it's precisely the indoor events which deservedly hold a reputation as a referent in Spanish athletics. The "Pabellón Fuente de San Luis" organised the National Championships in 1983 and 1988 while the "Palau Velódromo Luis Puig" has hosted up to six Spanish Championships over the last years, 1995,1997, 1998, 2001, 2003 and 2004. That same facility celebrated the 1998 European Indoor Championships, the most important competition ever hosted by the city alongside the 1981 Walking Race World Cup and several editions of the European Cup by teams.
Among the most prominent athletes born in Valencia we should firstly mention to Rafael Blanquer, the first Spaniard to exceed the 8m barrier in the men's Long Jump. He became an Olympian athlete at the Montreal'76 Olympics as did José Campos in the men's 3000m steeplechase with an 8th place to his credit. 400m hurdles athlete Óscar Pitillas competed at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta while José Antonio Redolat - one of the leading middle-distance Spanish runners - took the 2000 European 1500m indoor title in Gent (Belgium). On the women's side the stellar name is former (2000) World Junior Long Jump champion Concha Montaner, also an Olympian later that year at the Sidney Olympics.
