Veteran runner, at 78 he had overcome cancer and, after a forced break, he was ready to compete again
Dark sports pants; white t-shirt and sneakers. Paco took several pieces of fruit, a yogurt, a small backpack and approached his wife: “Today I’m going to do a longer route, so I won’t come back to eat.” She said goodbye smiling. They did not see him again.
His name is Paco Cano, he is 78 years old (he just turned them, on December 24), and an unattainable record as an athlete: ten medals in European championships (he was runner-up in Europe), countless national events and a record in athletics within the reach of very few: 800, 1,500 and 3,000 meters. In all these tests he has triumphed in the Master category (Veterans). On August 13, he went out, as always, to walk, to train. He didn’t come back.
“We have been looking for my father for more than four months,” laments his daughter Irina. Retired physical education teacher, much loved in his town -Los Barrios (Cádiz)-his neighbors, his family, his students, his friends, do not stop looking for him, “but we continue as at the beginning”, laments his daughter . Nothing leads to it.
That Saturday morning Paco Cano goes, as always, to the kiosk in his neighborhood. “Usually, he used to go in the morning to buy the newspaper and in the afternoon to walk his route. That day, instead of leaving in the afternoon, he leaves in the morning, but he does, in a way, his daily routine, because they see him.”
Paco goes to get the press, he meets a family friend. Then he starts his route, he meets several people, he walks normally. “They have located my father all day until a moment arrives, in the afternoon, in which he disappears“. It got dark, it was time to sleep, and Paco doesn’t come home. “Without any explanation… we don’t see him anymore.”
On Sunday morning they reported their absence to the Civil Guard. His town, almost entirely, heard the news. At the start there were no media, no posters; they would come later. A piece of news surprised Paco’s family: “the agents told my mother: her husband is in Medina Sidonia (Cádiz), competing,” explains Irina.
With other runners in Medina Sidonia
Rosa, Paco’s wife, breathed a sigh of relief, it was strange that she hadn’t warned… but she thought of the best. Paco’s son verified that the information did not add up: “It is impossible for dad to be in Medina, there is no competition there.”
He looked for races in nearby places, the only one that was held that day took place in another town in Cadiz, Rota. They asked about the circuits of runners, “my father was known to everyone in athletics”. They confirmed that Paco was not there.
The data was wrong. “It is information that was not verified,” laments Irina. They found out that that morning, while Paco was buying the newspaper, he met a family friend and they had a brief conversation:
-Friend: “Where are you going Paco?”
-Paco: I’m going to make a route to Medina.
-A: How are you going to do so much? Untill there?
-Q: (Joking): Do you want to come?
“My father was a joker. Other times he said he was going to Tarifa on foot,” Irina recalls.
two witnesses
The search started again, after the family insisted that the Medina Sidonia clue was not real. The entire area that Paco used to go through was combed, “over and over again, in the same place.”
Two new witnesses provided information: A woman claimed to have seen him at 8:30 p.m. on the Saturday that he disappeared. “My father was in the urban area, close to the hiking trails, but already in the town.” The beats were focused in the area of Vega de Ringo Range, near which runs a road that is heavily traveled by athletes and people who go for a walk on the outskirts of the urban area of Los Barrios. There was nothing that led to Paco. The river was looked at, there was no trace of it.
Another testimony was added to that of the lady: “another person said that he thought he saw my father at 9:30 in the morning, already on Sunday, in the same area, at the same point. We believe he could have been wrong.” that testimonyor it was very powerful for the family, yes for the research team: “They told us that the search was over because it was a voluntary disappearance, my father had decided to leave.”
18 pull-ups
His image began to spread: “Paco Cano is wanted.” Posters were put up in Algeciras, San Roque and all the surrounding towns. Cano, who has dedicated his entire life to sports, had disappeared when he was on his way to do what he likes best: walk, train.
Until he retired, he was the most beloved Physical Education teacher in Los Barrios. His love for the sport led him to great competition. “You don’t have to sit on the sofa when things are bad. You have to go out, work, move….”, used to say.
Endless medals have hung around his neck. A lover of a healthy life, “he is very special with food; obsessive with things that make you fat and not…”, describes Irina. “installed at homebeing a physical education teacher, one of the tests that he let us pass, because I was also his student”, he smiles. “YouWe had to climb the ropes, like firefighters… Well, he had mounted one and, every year, for his birthday, he recorded himself raising them, with two hands. Three meters of rope…she loved to teach it.”
Exercise is your engine. He has only stopped, forced, for a couple of years. He was found to have a tumor, prostate cancer. He got over it. “It was already at full capacity”, says Irina. He remembers the look on the faces of teenagers when, at his age, they saw him do “quietly, 17 or 18 pull-ups…”. He was excited, “I was already looking at the next competition.”
“All Open Hypotheses”
Four months later everything is as at the beginning. There is nothing leading to it. “The case has changed investigators several times; it was first picked up by the Civil Guard of Algeciras, then it went to Tarifa, and now to Algeciras again,” sums up Irina. “The only thing we know, they tell us, is that ‘all hypotheses are open’, that this It doesn’t give any peace of mind for the family.”
In the family’s opinion, it is not possible for Paco to have disappeared voluntarily. At first, something told them that it could have been an accidental disappearance: “my father, although he is fit, is still 78 years old. She disappears in August, it was very hot, “says her daughter, “but with everything that has been searched for, and where she was last seen, it doesn’t make any sense that she hasn’t turned up.”
Paco was a Physical Education teacher and has dedicated his entire life to sport. He disappeared when he was on his way to do what he likes the most: walk, train.
“Perhaps the disappearance of my father has been forced. A confrontation, for example… My father is a person who does not keep things quiet, he likes to debate, argue; perhaps someone could have do something…”.
Irina contemplates more options: “There are those who have told me that in the area where he disappeared, the Campo de Gibraltar, there are drug-trafficking problems, perhaps he saw something he shouldn’t have seen.”
His family, his people, fight against three fronts: knowing how, knowing where and knowing why. Also against oblivion. They walk, without stopping, as he would. The goal is him.