Manuel Merillas

About

Manuel Merillas is a Spanish trail and mountain runner from La Cueta in the Cantabrian Mountains of northern Spain, who grew up working cattle with his family in the Valseco highland and learned to move through the mountains by chasing livestock from pasture to pasture as a child. One of the most respected and enduring figures in European trail running, he spent 14 years of persistent work before becoming what he calls “a correct professional,” a journey that included a potentially career-ending Achilles tendon injury requiring nearly two years away from competition. His comeback produced some of his finest results: a fastest known time (FKT) on the roundtrip Mont Blanc route from Courmayeur in 2021, a win at OCC-UTMB in 2022 in a Spanish one-two alongside Sheila Avilés Castaño, and a victory at the iconic Zegama-Aizkorri Marathon in 2023 — his most coveted race, where he had chased a top result for years. In 2025 he won the Marató dels Dements, and in 2026 the Acantilados del Norte. A deeply thoughtful athlete and long-time student of mountain movement, Merillas represents the best of the Spanish trail running tradition rooted in rural Cantabrian mountain culture.

Notable Wins

• — Zegama-Aizkorri Marathon 2023
• — OCC – UTMB 2022
• — Mont Blanc FKT 2021 (roundtrip from Courmayeur)
• — Marató dels Dements 2025
• — Acantilados del Norte 2026

Race History