CIUDAD VICTORIA, Tamps., December 11 (EL UNIVERSAL).- CWith a basket on his back, carrying almost 70 kilos of oranges, Ambrosio Andrés Román won the traditional Annual Coloteros Race, in honor of the Virgin of Guadalupe.
The 38-year-old man covered the two-kilometer journey with his companions, a total of 40 competitors, all of them dedicated to picking (cutting) oranges, in the most important citrus production region of Tamaulipas.
From 9:00 a.m. the participants began to meet at their traditional workplace known as La Báscula, which is located on the Ciudad Victoria-Monterrey highway, on the border of the town of Plan de Ayala with El Carmen, in the municipality of Güémez.
Prior to the start, the organizer of the race, Rogelio Murrieta, explained that the tradition has been going on for 17 editions with a 2-kilometer route, that the runners must cover the colote (basket) on their backs, which contains between 65 and 70 kilos of valencia orange.
Murrieta, a native of Jalocingo, Veracruz, explained that they only accept pickers from the region. Although some of the workers are originally from Veracruz, Puebla and San Luis Potosí, they all work in this area.
-“Would you accept athletes who want to run?”, he is asked
-“We don’t think they can participate with the colote on their back,” he replied with a smile.
Unlike sports competitions, the coordinator clarified that “here there is no gym, or anything, nor tartan track, training is daily in the orange orchards.”
This was corroborated by last year’s winner, Miguel Ángel Cruz, 27 years old, “my preparation consists of going out daily with my gang”; while Santiago Ramírez, father of a broker, commented that the workdays start daily at five in the morning, “we came to wait for the boss to go out in trucks to cut oranges.”
At 10:00 a.m., the mayor of Güémez, Lorenzo Morales, gave the starting signal, after the blessing of the priest Enrique Gómez, accompanied by a warning: “At the end we will have mass to thank the Virgin of Guadalupe, those who participate don’t be so tough and when you arrive, don’t go out to suckle the calf”.
A celebration. The start is an impressive scene, which semi-paralyzes the road on the highway, because motorists stop to take pictures or record videos with their cell phones; while the pickers advance at great speed and in the ambient sound the traditional song of these festivities is heard: “La Guadalupana, La Guadalupana, La Guadalupana went down to Tepeyac.”
Throughout the route entire families enjoyed the journey, applauded and took photos.
Most of the runners brought their “staff”, that is, their friends, who provided them with water or air-filled boxes throughout the course.
The men advanced with their baskets on their backs. Here they call them colotes, it is the main tool of those who do the toughest work in the orange harvest.
Crossing the bridge over the Purificación River, they entered the territory of the town of El Barretal, in the municipality of Padilla, with Ambrosio Andrés Román who did not slacken his pace and headed for the finish line in first place, in the Parish of Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe, sheltered to a standing ovation from the crowd.
The winner, who received 10,000 pesos in cash, is originally from Zacate Colorado, in the municipality of Tihuatlán, State of Veracruz.
“I have been coming to work here for eight years and it is the first time I have participated, I am very happy, I thank the Virgin and I dedicate the victory to my son Jesús Daniel,” he said excitedly.
With the sponsorship of many merchants and producers in the region, in addition to the Güémez City Council, the second place was also awarded with 7 thousand pesos, the third with 5 thousand; and there were more cash prizes of 4,500, 2,000 and from 11th place to 40 consolation prizes of 500 pesos each.
“It is a party with which the workers who daily help with the production of this citrus region, the most important in Tamaulipas, are also celebrated,” said Lorenzo Morales.
Thus, the orange pickers, exhausted but happy, have once again fulfilled their tradition of running in honor of the Virgin of Guadalupe.
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