As a prelude to this year’s Xupinaya mountain race, family, friends and admirers gathered at the Ajijic plaza Saturday, July 30 to honor the late Gerardo “Nardo” López Castellanos, one of the town’s most eminent foot racers.
Remembered as an exemplary laborer and patriarch, a man of few words and athlete endowed with a lean and sinewy physique, López left his mark in local, state, national and international running events of different types. Among his most memorable accomplishments was qualifying to represent Mexico in the 1979 Pan American games held in Puerto Rico and once accompanying Xupinaya founder Ricardo González to run the Boston Marathon. He was also noted as González’ chief assistant in defining the local mountain racing and hiking trail.
He succumbed to cancer March 1, 2021 in what his daughter Yvette defined “the most difficult contest of his life.” She joined two of her four siblings and his widow Isabel Hernández del Toro in accepting a posthumous certificate of appreciation issued by the municipal government, along with several framed photographs showing López in competitive action.