RUNNING CONVERSATION
MARATHON RUNNER AND ENDURANCE ATHLETE ALEX ROCA ON HIS INSPIRATIONAL JOURNEY AND THE TRANSCENDENT POWER OF NOT TAKING NO FOR AN ANSWER
NO’ IS ALEX ROCA’S FAVOURITE WORD. He has heard it all his life. For him, the word has become synonymous with challenge. The 32-year-old from Catalonia has cerebral palsy, caused by an infection – cerebral herpes – he contracted at six months old. The doctors didn’t think he would live. He has reduced mobility on the left side of his body and communicates through sign language. Having a 76% physical disability, he has been told again and again, should mean no for many aspects of life. But he has never once accepted it – and, he says, has his ‘studies, work, car, partner and a “normal” life’ to prove it. And a vital part of that life is sport.
Like his life, Roca’s incredible sporting journey has been a long story of rejecting any no thrown in his path, from playing football to skiing and on to completing one seemingly impossible endurance challenge after another. In 2019, he overcame a series of obstacles to become the first person with cerebral palsy to finish the Titan Desert race, a six-day multi-stage mountain-bike race through the Moroccan desert between the Atlas Mountains and Sahara. Not only that, but he has also participated in five triathlons, six half marathons and, in the culmination of a lifelong dream that he’s trained towards for many years, at the Barcelona Marathon in March this year, he became the first runner with a 76% disability ever to complete the 26.2-mile distance.
Roca was accompanied on his hometown course by his interpreter, Valentí Sanjuan, and his brother Victor, who have both been by his side throughout his training and athletic endeavours over the years, and he crossed the line in 5:50:51. After the race, Roca posted a triumphant, joyful video on Twitter, capturing the crowd’s cheers as he ran down the final stretch, before lunging across the finish line on to his back, pumping his fist, and receiving his medal, surrounded by a hooting throng of supporters.
Roca is a bomb of energy. Spending time with him in Barcelona, the RW team find he is one of those rare people who gives off so much positive energy that you immediately feel inspired. Suddenly, you want to take up challenges you had previously thought unattainable. He’s an athlete who redefines limits, removes barriers and constantly surprises the world with what he is capable of achieving. Sharing his remarkable story with RW, he has one message he wants to convey above all else: that every one of us can overcome any challenge we set for ourselves – whatever our abilities, with effort and sacrifice, we can all exceed our limits.
