Belen Rodríguez has a PhD in nutrition, is a sports nutritionist and training specialist for runners. With a great passion for sports and research, she can't imagine her life without mountains. She loves competition and the possibility of taking on a new challenge every day. With her broad experience in the world of sports nutrition, she has been running her own interdisciplinary centre for nutrition and sports for over 20 years. Since 2020, Belen has been part of the Spanish Paralympic Committee's interdisciplinary team as a sports nutritionist, where she provides her knowledge for the disciplines of long-distance mountain running, ski mountaineering, high altitude racing and alpinism.
Belen has been passionate about sports since her early childhood. She started with dancing, trained capoeira and strength training until 2005 when she dedicated herself to mountain running as well as other high-altitude activities. Later she competed in high altitude races such as the Monterosa Sky Marathon, the Elbrus Race or the Mezzalama. Belen was the first Spanish woman to finish the Lenin Race, and she did so in second place in the women's classification.
For Belen, what makes mountain sports special is the intense contact with nature as well as the feeling of freedom. "It's about exploring the mountain itself, its risks and challenges. It's a very special and difficult relationship to explain," Belen says. One of her biggest dreams is to reach the summit of an 8,000-meter peak and descend back to base camp within a day.
Her "Mountain to Conscience" project is about conquering mountains of a certain height in alpine style, with no aids but her own strength and in the easiest and fastest way possible.