Fran Naranjo

Getting to know Fran Naranjo a little

Sport is both Fran’s profession and his passion. A graduate in Physical Activity and Sport Sciences, he is currently the sports director of a major fitness centre. After a series of successes in national and regional OCR events and some good European results, in 2021 he decided to focus on long-distance trail running with the challenge of qualifying for and racing UTMB MONT-BLANC. The mountains are his paradise, and he loses himself in them whenever he can, to run, climb or trek…

Sporting achievements…

Between 2018 and 2020 he reached a high level in top-flight national OCR events and put together some important results, among them: 1st in the national obstacle course league in his category, 2nd at the National OCR Championships (also in his category), 1st at Spartan Beast Madrid (age group), 2nd at Spartan Super Mallorca (age group)… He also raced internationally at events such as the OCR World Championship in London 2019, the Spartan European Championship in Italy 2019 and Spartan Ultra Beast Andorra (3rd age group)… From 2021 onwards he devoted himself almost exclusively to long-distance trail running, racing events such as Ultra Buff Epic Trail, Territorio Templario, Spartan Trail Ultra Tenerife (5th overall/2nd senior) and CDH-UTMB World Series Major… In 2022 he took second place in the senior category at the Valencian Community Long Distance Championships. Knee surgery kept him out of action for several months in 2023, but his legs are once again piling up the kilometres in demanding mountain races.

What you might not know about Fran…

Whenever work and training allow it, he escapes to the mountains. He has conquered the three highest peaks in Spain: Teide (3,715 m), Mulhacén (3,479 m) and Aneto (3,404 m, the highest in the Pyrenees). And now that he has summited the highest peaks in Spain, he is already thinking about new challenges to keep on touching the clouds.