Guatemalans Charlie Sarmiento and Juan Carlos Sagastume participate in the 2018 Trail World Championship, which takes place from May 10 to 13 in Castellón de la Plana, Spain.

Participants from around the world will race for the title of global long-distance trail champion for men, women and teams. You can follow the performance of Sarmiento and Sagastume during the competition through their social networks.

Sport has a positive impact on the life of those who practice it. It helps to find balance and allows you to overcome limits that are impossible to overcome. This was what happened to Charlie Sarmiento, when he found himself at a breaking point.

Charlie is a tall man with brown hair. You can tell by his demeanor that he is an athlete. Since he was 5 years old he has practiced different disciplines: soccer, swimming or baseball. In his adulthood he searched for something that would take him beyond his own limits and he found it in the Ultra Marathon.

His parents encouraged him to play sports. He was selected from youth baseball for more than 7 years. Also selected national soccer sub17. He did not dedicate himself 100% to sports and decided to focus professionally on business. That’s what he studied and that’s what he’s currently doing in a multinational beverage company. At first glance his life seems perfect, with a loving family and a successful career, but the road has not been easy for Charlie.

At the age of 14, his father, one of the pillars of his life, passed away, and years later he fell into a deep depression, which he himself describes as «hitting rock bottom.» That was the point where he looked for a new challenge “When I found out I had depression I went to the psychiatrist and he prescribed me medicine. I bought them as part of the process but I never took them, I threw them away”, says the athlete.
There he found the ultra marathon. “I run because it makes me feel good about myself,” explains Charlie. “I hit rock bottom and got unbalanced. When running, the body generates endorphins. That’s why I do it, it makes me feel good, it makes me feel alive.»
Three years and 9 ultra marathons completed later, this Guatemalan continues to find balance in the practice of this sport. Beyond that, it helps you in all aspects of your life personally and professionally.

“It has served me well because I think it allows me to accept challenges that seem difficult to achieve,” explains Charlie. “There are always people who put limits on you because they don’t have the courage to do so. They live in a box, with set limits, indirectly demotivating one from a goal. You have to learn to listen to your inner voice,” he adds.
This motivates him to go out and train even on the most difficult days. “Knowing that it is raining or that it is cold makes me feel alive, waking up every morning in a different way. There are days that cost more, but when I think about the reasons why I run, I get up and do it”, he concludes.

Sagastume and his motivation
«I feel very happy to represent my beautiful Guatemala in the World Mountain Racing Championship», who will participate on May 12.

The athlete posted on his Facebook page the following: “Since 1993, for 15 years, I have had the opportunity to wear blue and white to five Mountain Biking World Championships. This will be the sixth time that I will compete for Guatemala among the best on the planet, but now in the Mountain Pedestrian Race. As always, the expectation is to give everything! In a competition a friend asked me what my strategy was going to be? And I told him: we are going to start hard, we press in the middle and we give it to die at the end. I will do this again in the 85km with 5,000m of positive elevation gain that this event will have.”
«There is no short route to success», is the message of the national athlete.

Guatemaltecos compiten por ser el campeón mundial de sendero de larga distancia