Original language: Spanish (radio segment on Tribu al Extremo, 106.1 FM).
By: Juan Zurita Victoria, MBA
Oax Sport. Athlete Support and Programs.
Report also available in Spanish and French.
This blog series
Oax Sport Thursdays on Tribu al Extremo is a weekly space for sports stories, athlete support, training realities, and community-based development in Oaxaca.
Previous English episodes: Episode 0, Episode 1, Episode 2, Episode 3, Episode 4, Episode 5, Episode 6, and Episode 7.
Episode details
- Text: Juan Zurita Victoria, MBA
- On-air interview: Tribu al Extremo
- Guest athlete: Raúl Martínez Ramírez
- Age at the time of the interview: 14
- Home: Chahuites
- Club: Club de atletismo MV Tejones, Chahuites
- Home coach: José Mariano Velázquez Palacios, profe Mariano
- Oaxaca coach: Uber Clain Herrera Aquino, Titanes Sport Clinic
- Teammate who inspired him: Marely Cruz Rasgado, MV Tejones, an athlete who reached the national stage
- Show: Tribu al Extremo, 106.1 FM
- Segment: Oax Sport Thursdays
- Air date: Thursday, April 9, 2026
- Episode type: athlete recap with confirmed result
- Focus: Raúl’s season, support received, training without a track, and his national final result
- Listen live: every Thursday, 7:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., Oaxaca time
Support focus of the week
This interview aired before the national stage. This article is published as a season recap, with the final result now confirmed.
Raúl Martínez Ramírez finished 7th in the 80 m final at the 2026 Olimpiada Nacional CONADE in Guadalajara, Jalisco. He also became the first athlete from Chahuites to reach a final in that event.
During the season, Oax Sport supported and followed his process through a fundraising campaign. Donations supported approved campaign costs, including training travel, competition travel, and competition-related costs. This recap does not itemize costs and does not state that Oax Sport paid for specific items.
Raúl’s season shows a clear part of youth athletics in Oaxaca. An athlete may have discipline, family support, and competitive marks, but if he lives about 10 hours from Oaxaca City, has no track, and trains on dirt, reaching a national final takes more than talent.
30-second recap
- Raúl Martínez Ramírez, a Sub-16 sprinter from Chahuites, finished 7th in the 80 m final at the 2026 Olimpiada Nacional CONADE.
- He became the first athlete from Chahuites to reach a final in that event.
- In the interview, recorded before nationals, Raúl explained that he trains on dirt because Chahuites does not have a track.
- He said his spikes slip during starts, which affects his confidence and his ability to attack fast.
- Before nationals, he trained in Oaxaca City at Parque Primavera with Titanes Sport Clinic, one week at a time.
- He said he had thought about quitting, but his coach, teammates, and father kept him going.
- His dream remains clear: reach a world championship and stand on a podium.
Season thank-you
This recap also recognizes the people and groups who supported Raúl during the season.
- Mayor Rossell Castillo Martínez, H. Ayuntamiento de Chahuites.
- Samara Cruz, MARED Fisio, for helping keep Raúl injury-free through the season.
- Titanes families, for room support, rides, and local transportation.
- Restaurante y Asadero Mi Granjita.
- Aserradero Rosas López.
- Rápido y Sabroso.
- Iron Evolution Gym.
- Oax Sport, for supporting and following his season.
Most campaign donors were from abroad. Their support helped Raúl focus more on training, racing, and closing his season in a national final.
Interview in text
1. Who is Raúl Martínez?
Q (Tribu al Extremo): Tell us your full name, your age, and where you come from.
A (Raúl): My name is Raúl Martínez Ramírez. I am 14 years old, and I come from Chahuites.
2. How he started in athletics
Q (Tribu al Extremo): How did your life in athletics begin?
A (Raúl): I got to know athletics more when I met Coach Mariano. When I first met him, he invited me, and that is how it started.
Q (Tribu al Extremo): Was the group already formed when you joined?
A (Raúl): Yes. When I passed by with my parents, I saw them training. When I joined the club, the group was already formed by my teammates.
Q (Tribu al Extremo): What motivated you to choose this sport?
A (Raúl): I chose it because I had met my teammate Marely. She inspired me, and I wanted to be like her.
In this recap, Oax Sport identifies Marely Cruz Rasgado as a teammate from MV Tejones who reached the national stage and became an example for Raúl inside his own training group.
3. His first competition
Q (Tribu al Extremo): Do you remember your first competition?
A (Raúl): Yes, I remember it very well. It was in Santiago Niltepec with a local club. I did 3 events: 80 m, 300 m, and long jump.
Q (Tribu al Extremo): How did it go?
A (Raúl): In the 80 m, I finished second. In the 300 m, I finished third. In long jump, it did not go that well, but I still finished second. I competed with my own teammates.
Q (Tribu al Extremo): What did you feel before that competition?
A (Raúl): Before that competition, I felt nervous. After I saw my teammates cheering for me, all the nerves went away.
4. How the pressure changed
Q (Tribu al Extremo): What difference do you feel between those first nerves and what you felt before nationals?
A (Raúl): The difference is that back then I did not feel so nervous, because for me it was a fogueo competition. Now I demand more from myself because the competitions are bigger. You move up little by little, and you compete with people who have more experience than you.
At the time of the interview, Raúl had already been state champion, had finished 2nd at the macro-regional stage by ranking, and had qualified for the national stage. The previous year, he had also qualified for the next stage, but he did not reach nationals.
5. Growing as an athlete in Chahuites
Q (Tribu al Extremo): What is it like to grow up in Chahuites as an athlete?
A (Raúl): The truth is, Chahuites is very nice and you have a lot of support there. Growing up in Chahuites, standing out is mostly so people get to know you.
Q (Tribu al Extremo): What is a normal day like for you?
A (Raúl): Most of the time, it is from home to secondary school and from secondary school to training. In the routine, we do warm-up, one jogging lap, and everything that follows.
6. Training without a track
Q (Tribu al Extremo): Where do you train when you are in Chahuites?
A (Raúl): We train on dirt because we do not have a track.
Q (Tribu al Extremo): What difficulties do you face because you do not have those facilities?
A (Raúl): It is hard for me when I do my starts. I do not have the same confidence to go out fast because I do not have enough grip. My spikes kind of slip. I am afraid I will fall.
Q (Tribu al Extremo): Do you feel that affects your performance?
A (Raúl): Yes. When we do starts, I do not go out with the confidence to leave, to attack fast, because I am afraid I will fall or scrape myself. It does not give me that confidence to start aggressively.
7. Traveling to Oaxaca to train
Before nationals, Raúl trained in Oaxaca City with Uber Clain Herrera Aquino and Titanes Sport Clinic, mainly at Parque Primavera. That preparation happened in short blocks, one week at a time.
Q (Tribu al Extremo): How often do you travel to the city to train?
A (Raúl): For example, since I am preparing for nationals, I came this whole week and I go back next week. For the next week, I have to come train so I can prepare better for nationals.
Chahuites is about 10 hours by bus from Oaxaca City. Each trip means time, fatigue, transportation, food, lodging, and local movement inside the city.
8. The cost for his family
Q (Tribu al Extremo): What does this trip mean for your family?
A (Raúl): Mostly expenses, and also risks that something could happen on the road.
Q (Tribu al Extremo): What do you notice about your family when you have to travel from Chahuites to Oaxaca?
A (Raúl): Mostly the money, because I have to travel. I go and come back, and they find a way to get it. Sometimes Coach Mariano helps us with that.
The interview made one point clear. Support is not only about one registration fee or one race. For an athlete who lives far from the main training facilities, training well can depend on several smaller costs that build up during the season.
9. He thought about quitting
Q (Tribu al Extremo): Have you ever thought about giving up because of these difficulties?
A (Raúl): Several times, yes. I have thought about giving up and not continuing. But my coach motivates me, my athletics teammates motivate me, and my father most of all.
Q (Tribu al Extremo): How do you stay motivated?
A (Raúl): I stay motivated when sometimes I do not feel like going and I say: I want to win a national medal, and I want to achieve it. The people who support me emotionally are my teammates, mostly my friend Marely.
10. The process toward nationals
Q (Tribu al Extremo): How was your process from state to macro-regional and then to nationals?
A (Raúl): We trained for about a month for the regional stage in Chahuites. We were training constantly, but then we saw that we did not have that fogueo, someone to pull me. We asked Coach Uber for help, to support us with that, to help pull us or let us come train with them. Training alone is not the same as training with others.
Q (Tribu al Extremo): What did you feel when you reached nationals?
A (Raúl): When I reached nationals, I felt very happy because it was going to be my first year at nationals, and I was going to enjoy it 100%.
Q (Tribu al Extremo): What was your biggest challenge in qualifying?
A (Raúl): My biggest challenge has been that I go with fear, and at the moment everything disappears. I think about what would happen if I did not make my mark. That has been my biggest challenge, thinking about so much effort, so much work, and whether it would show or not.
11. Preparing with Titanes
Q (Tribu al Extremo): How was your preparation before nationals?
A (Raúl): My preparation has been training constantly with Professor Uber. He has not left us alone. He helps us with that process, calls us to come train with them, or we come. I thank him a lot for that, because he does not set us aside. On the contrary, he brings us together with them.
That work with Titanes athletes gave Raúl something he did not always have in Chahuites: teammates who could pull him, a better surface, and a sprint environment closer to what he would face in competition.
12. Expectations before nationals
Q (Tribu al Extremo): What did you expect from nationals?
A (Raúl): I hope to get a medal and improve my mark, mostly.
Q (Tribu al Extremo): What does it mean to represent Chahuites at nationals?
A (Raúl): I feel proud to represent Chahuites because the community is supporting me a lot. Mostly proud.
The final result is now known. Raúl finished 7th in the 80 m final. No confirmed times are available for this recap, so no mark is added.
13. What is hardest and what he would change
Q (Tribu al Extremo): What is the hardest part of being an athlete in a community like Chahuites?
A (Raúl): The hardest part is the facilities. We do not have a track, and that is what I need most. From the whole club, for now, I and some girls are sprinters, but most of my teammates do field events.
Q (Tribu al Extremo): What would you like your community to change for athletes?
A (Raúl): Mostly that when someone arrives to train, sometimes the soccer players interrupt. And that they support all the people who want to join the club.
14. School, municipal, family, and community support
Q (Tribu al Extremo): Have you received support from an institution, the municipality, or people during this process?
A (Raúl): I have received support from Escuela Secundaria Técnica No. 54, and also support for the macro-regional stage through Rossell Castillo Martínez, mayor of Chahuites. Other people have also supported us.
The school support is kept separate from the municipal support. In this recap, the macro-regional help is credited to the municipality through Mayor Rossell Castillo Martínez. The school is credited for supporting Raúl’s academic process while he traveled and competed.
Q (Tribu al Extremo): What costs do you have to keep training and competing?
A (Raúl): Mostly paying for the bus. When we train here, moving around by taxi. Coming and going. Since I do not know the city well, they do charge me more.
Q (Tribu al Extremo): How do these costs affect your family?
A (Raúl): They do not affect my family as much because they know people in Oaxaca are supporting me. They are giving me a chance to stay in a room with a friend from Titanes. Sometimes Titanes parents also support us with money for the bus or with a ride to where I am going.
15. The support that would help most
Q (Tribu al Extremo): If you could ask for one type of support, what would help you most?
A (Raúl): What would help me most would be economic support to keep traveling, to keep training constantly in Oaxaca, so I can prepare better and keep getting results at nationals. I hope it goes very well.
Q (Tribu al Extremo): How do you combine sport and school?
A (Raúl): My institution supports me a lot. They help me with everything. At school I am not doing very well, but I am constant with my homework and I turn in everything they ask from me.
Q (Tribu al Extremo): How does your school support you when you leave to compete?
A (Raúl): When I do not turn in homework or when I still need to take exams, they give me a chance to come back and do them so I do not lose anything. I thank them very much for that.
16. Competitions and his message
Q (Tribu al Extremo): Which competition has been the hardest for you?
A (Raúl): The strongest competition for me, the one where I did have a fight, was the macro-regional. I did have a fight, and that competition was very good. I felt very comfortable.
Q (Tribu al Extremo): Which competition do you remember with the most joy since you started?
A (Raúl): The competition I liked most when I had just started was the one in Santiago Niltepec. Also the Titanes Sport one here in Oaxaca, where only my teammate and I came because we did not have enough resources for my teammates to come too.
Q (Tribu al Extremo): What would you tell other athletes who face the same difficulties?
A (Raúl): Fight for your dreams and never give up. Stay constant, because in the end there will be results.
Q (Tribu al Extremo): What would you tell someone so they believe in you and support you?
A (Raúl): Trust me. I will not disappoint the people who are trusting me, and I would like them to keep supporting me.
17. His dreams in athletics
Q (Tribu al Extremo): What dreams do you have in athletics?
A (Raúl): Going to a world championship is the dream, mostly. I have seen several times that athletes have gone to a world championship, and I would like to go.
Q (Tribu al Extremo): Where do you see yourself in a few years?
A (Raúl): I see myself on the podium or improving my marks.
What is next
The season is over. Raúl finished 7th in the 80 m final at the 2026 Olimpiada Nacional CONADE in Guadalajara, Jalisco. That result makes him the first athlete from Chahuites to reach a final in that event.
The next step is not to raise funds for a race that has already passed. The next step is to learn from this season and prepare the next one better.
Raúl’s case points to three clear needs for future athletes: early contact, clear planning for training and competition costs, and support that starts before the final weeks. For athletes who live far from Oaxaca City, 2 to 3 months of preparation can make a real difference.
Quick Q&A for athletes, families, and donors
How far in advance should an athlete contact Oax Sport?
Ideally, 2 to 3 months before the competition or training block. That gives time to review the case, confirm needs, prepare a campaign, and follow the process properly.
Can only athletes who already won request support?
No. Younger athletes can also contact Oax Sport if they are committed, have a clear plan, and can show their training process.
What does Oax Sport ask from athletes during a campaign?
We ask for basic information, clarity about the need, photos or video when possible, updates during the process, and a recap after the competition or season.
How can people help now that this season is over?
They can support current and future campaigns. The goal is to help the next athlete arrive with more time, less financial pressure, and better conditions to compete.
How you can help
Transparency
Oax Sport Inc. is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit (EIN: 86-3407818). Oax Sport A.C. is a registered Mexican nonprofit (RFC: OSP-230216-SG0). Contact us for receipts or tax documentation.
Listen every Thursday
Listen to Tribu al Extremo (106.1 FM) every Thursday, 7:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., Oaxaca time. You can also follow the show on Facebook.
Which athlete in Oaxaca should receive support before the next season begins?
Discover more from Oax Sport
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.