The Slanch Report

After three men in Spain decided to rob a grocery store, they ran out of the building and ran right into a heap of bad luck. That’s because Jose Luis Blanco, the 2006 European Steeplechase silver medalist was outside, on a training run. Seeing the men leave the supermarket with a purse and a rucksack, Blano thought it all looked very suspicious, after hearing screams from the people inside the store, he and his training partner made the instantaneous choice to chase the gang. The criminals were already about 5o yards ahead, but when you’re a champion runner, that isn’t too much of a burden to overcome.

When we were about 10 metres from them we shouted, ‘Police, drop the bags,’ but they carried on running. That’s when things started to get a bit hairy, they tried to cross a big main road with lots of traffic. We were weaving in and out of the cars, I think there were two lanes of traffic going in both directions. Us or them could have easily been hit, one of them almost was. We shouted that we were the police a second time but they carried on running so we got up right on their shoulder and told them again to drop the bags. At that point, the thieves finally flung the bags down and behind themselves.

We took the bags back to the supermarket and then waited for the police to arrive. It was unbelievable, everyone was cheering. I’ve never heard applause like it, not even when I’ve won a race. I felt like Superman for a short time.”

Thanks to his descriptions of the criminals, police were able to ultimately track them down and arrest the men responsible for the attempted theft. Last week Blanco was honored by the town for his bravery, although it didn’t seem to be much help for his next race, he finished 62nd.

[Spikes Mag]