SANLUCAR DE BARRAMEDA BEACH HORSE RACES

The Sanlúcar Horse Races are one of the biggest sporting and social events of the Andalusian summer, declared of International Tourist Interest. These days it will focus once again, thousands of residents and visitors on the beaches of Bajo de Guía. They attract horses, riders and spectators from all over Europe. It is estimated that somewhere in the region of 50,000 spectators assemble on the beaches to enjoy the races.

There are two race meetings about a fortnight apart with the dates depending on the tide timetables for August. This year it will be held from 10 to August 12 and 25 to 27 this month. They take place on the beach at Sanlúcar de Barrameda near Jerez de la Frontera (Cádiz) in Andalucia. Officially these famous horse races have been taking place since 1845. This year 2011 celebrates the 166th edition of the races. You can check this year's races dates on the official Sanlucar Horse Races website (press HERE).

These races are considered the oldest in Spain and also hold the title of the ancient world held at beaches rather than a racetrack. Riders wear traditional colours and caps and the races are run over distances ranging between 1.2km and 2km. Prize money over the meeting amounts to several million euros, with winnings for each race ranging from a few hundred to several thousand. The biggest prize goes to the winner of the 'Gran Premier Ciudad de Sanlúcar' which takes place on the final day of racing over a 2km course.

This little town lies on the estuary of the River Guadalquivir overlooking the Doñana National Park. Even without the horses Sanlúcar is a charming place to visit. Historically, it served as the setting off point for the expeditions of Columbus in 1498 and Magellan in 1519 and is well known as part of the famous "Sherry Triangle" along with Jerez de la Frontera and El Puerto de Santa Maria. Visitors should head down to the riverside at Bajo de Guía where there are some superb restaurants offering local seafood delicacies which you can enjoy with a glass of manzanilla as the sun goes down over Doñana.

To see more about these races, click on this link:

http://www.spanish-fiestas.com/spanish-festivals/sanlucar-horse-races.htm

Source:

http://www.carrerassanlucar.es/index.html

http://www.spanish-fiestas.com/

REAL MADRID FOOTBALLERS TELL YOU HOW THEY SEE MADRID

(please, pause the Ipod first)

A touristic website about Madrid has just made a film with the Real Madrid footballers telling us about this city and what they think and like about living here. Since the quality of the film is very good and perhaps some of the readers of this blog are planning to come to Madrid in short, here I leave you the video, it is 2 minutes long and you can also have it in French, Italian, German (and Spanish, of course jejeje).

It is interesting to see Cristiano Ronaldo, Sergio Ramos, Kaká, Marcelo, Xavi Alonso and others to explain to you what to see and not to miss if you come here. I am sure they will tell you better than me! I hope it can be useful for you and you can enjoy it! 

Source:
http://www.infoesmadrid.com/

FAREWELL TO SEVE BALLESTEROS, A LEGEND IN GOLF AND A BRAVE MAN IN LIFE

When I returned yesterday from my beach vacation, I learned through the press that Severiano Ballesteros had died the previous night, after suffering a serious worsening of their disease (a cancer of the brain) and against which he had been struggling since it was detected in March 2008.

He was 54, still a very young man, and as this great golfer was a true icon in my country in the 80 and 90 (as now could be Rafa Nadal, for example), although I've never been a fan of golf sport, I grew up witnessing their deeds and accomplishments, and for all that, his death has impressed me more. He was very popular and much loved in my country and perhaps even more outside our borders. And although I am still under my little blogging break I could not help writing this little post today to his memory, joining to all the tributes that he will be have around the world.

I just wanted to add a few lines more about their human side, which for me it is always the most interesting part in any people.

He was born in 1957 in Pedreña, a small town in Santander (northern Spain), where he grew up next to a golf course, the Royal Golf de Pedreña, a club opened by King Alfonso XIII in 1928, where he worked since very small as a caddy of other prestigious golfers and where he began to feel the itch for this sport and where all who saw him began to realize very quickly that he had a natural gift for golf. At 17 he began his career and since then the career of one of the best record in professional golf history began to be shaped: 2 Masters, 3 British Open, 6 Ryder Cup, 5 Match Play, British Order of Merit, Gold Medal of the Parliament of Cantabria, Prince of Asturias Award for Sports ...

Always hearty and with a broad smile on his face (though showing always a strong will too), his personal life was not, however, as fortunate as was his professional life. In 1987 he married Carmen Botin, a daughter of Emilio Botin, President of Santander Bank, one of the wealthiest families in Spain, had 3 children but after 16 years of marriage the heartbreak came and separated. A few years later, he tried to rebuild his life with a woman twenty years younger, but fate played another dirty trick, and 29 years girlfriend (and mother of a child of 13), would die shortly afterwards in a car accident in 2007, when they were preparing their upcoming wedding. Seve was quite concerned and later that year, perhaps pushed by several injuries, decided to retire from golf and was devoted to designing and organizing golf tournaments.

Finally, 3 years ago he would fight his last battle: doctors discovered two tumors in the brain the size of a golf ball, in the last three years he was operated four times on life and death and subjected to different treatments of chemotherapy, radiotherapy and hard processes of rehabilitation and retraining in order to start over from scratch, and even created a Foundation that bears his name, to collect benefits in the fight against cancer and to support young people who started playing golf. I even remember that very recently I saw a TV program on medicine and surgery and he came out in the program talking about the operation that it was done to him and encouraging, at the same time, a 16 years old girl who was going to have made similar surgery, to fight like him. I hope this girl has all the best of luck and keep fighting!

Lately, it seemed that the hardest thing was over and that his strength and courage had coped with his illness, fighting like a young wild boar to get his last Masters, sadly he has not been able to win.

He will always be remembered as the man who democratized golf,

a sport considered as elitist, until he started to play it.

Seve (as he was known by his many loyal British fans) has gone,

but he will always be in our memory

11th, May 2011 

A moving memorial service took place today in honor of Seve Ballesteros, in Pedreña, his home town. Seve's brother, Baldomero Ballesteros, was quoted as saying: "The funeral rites will be as simple as those for any neighbour from the village. He was born here and here he will remain."

Ryder Cup captains Nick Faldo, Colin Montgomerie, Sam Torrance and Jose Maria Olazabal were part of the procession led by the Ballesteros family to their local San Pedro church.

Hundreds of mourners applauded as the procession, headed by his children Javier (carrying the urn holding his father's ashes),  Carmen (clutching the magnolia flower he had chosen himself to be placed in front of the altar) and Miguel (declaring in church: "Papa, as you can see, Javier, Carmen and me are strong, just like you asked us. For us it is not a day to say goodbye, we know you are by our side and we will always be by yours. We love you, dad"). And leading by a Scot bagpiper, knowing Ballesteros's love of Scotland- entered the church after a 10-minute walk from his house overlooking the Bay of Biscay.

Members of the local rowing club provided a guard of honour with raised oars - his father had been a rower and trainer at the lub which carries his name - and they passed houses which had Spain flags hanging from balconies embossed with black ribbons. Also children of the Seve Ballesteros Foundation carried three irons aloft to signify the club with which he started practising as a child.

English golfer Tony Jacklin said "I've only met two people in my life with such charisma. One was Arnold (Palmer) and the other was Seve." And Jack Nicklaus, who retired with a record 18 major titles, said the world of golf had lost "a great entertainer and ambassador". Nick Faldo also added: "There will never be another Seve. He had everything - the good looks, the charisma, the smile, the walk and the swash-buckling golf game. It's been a pretty special day".

A genius and a legend, rest in peace Seve Ballesteros

 

Source:

skysports.com

telegraph.co.uk

EDURNE PASABAN, ADVENTURER OF THE YEAR

Recently National Geographic, one of the largest and most renowned educational institutions and nonprofit scientific world, has named Edurne Pasaban the Adventurer of the Year 2010.

The award, a prestigious and recognized worldwide, is decided by the National Geographic website. Edurne was nominated along with nine other prominent people in climbing, navigation, exploration, etc. More than 9000 people around the world continue to Edurne on your facebook page. They have been instrumental in the election, as acknowledged by the mountaineer.

In May 2010, 37 year old Spanish mountaineer Edurne Pasaban finished her nine-year quest to climb the world’s 14 tallest mountains, the 8,000-meter (or higher) peaks. As she said: “You climb to the top and live to tell about it or you don’t. And descends can be more fatal than the push to the summit”. And Edurne knows this too well. Six years ago, on her way off of 28,251 foot K2, Pasabán lost pieces of her big toes to frostbite. When she returned home to Spain she felt like a load of things had piled up on me all at once. She was 31 with no partner, no children, and a life dedicated to a quest that had left her missing some of her toes. She had trouble getting out of bed in the morning. She thought about quitting climbing. Then, not quite a year later, Pasaban returned to the mountains, where things were clearer. And last spring, after knocking off 26,545 foot Annapurna and then, 26,289 foot Shishapangma, the alpinist became the first (she is sick of the debate with Eun-Sun’s claim) woman in history to summit every mountain above 8,000 meters.

“If people decided that I am the Adventurer of the Year, I am very happy, you know it,” Pasaban said when she was surprised with the news last week in New York City’s Central Park. “In my life, I never thought I would climb the 8,000-meter peaks. And I never thought I would be the Adventurer of the Year. It’s a nice present, and I would like to tell everybody thank you very much.”

Raised in the mountainous Basque country of northern Spain and standing six feet tall, Pasaban starting climbing when she was 14 years old. By 18, she was climbing in the Himalaya. Pasaban’s mountaineering accomplishments have made her a national hero in Spain. Though Pasaban does not think of her climbing in terms of being a woman, she realizes her impact: “I did not set out to prove anything, but if I can be a reference to help women believe in themselves, I will be very content with that”, she says.

Congratulations Edurne! You deserve it!

Source: adventure-journal.com/

             nationalgeographic.com

BARCELONA WORLD EXCITING RACE 2010-2011

Last 31st December 15 yachts set sail from the port of Barcelona in the round the world Barcelona World Race 2010-2011, which is the second edition of an excitingly mad race that takes place every four years. Absolutely unique it is the only round the world yacht race that is double-handed (two co-skippers per boat) in which no external assistance is permitted or there is a penalty.

The race is organized by the Fundació Navegació Oceánica in Barcelona and the arrival is estimated for the end of March 2011, as well in Barcelona, with three different points of passage at the three Cape (Good Hope, Leeuwin, Horn) and the Cook Strait. 

The length of the course is about 25.000 nautical miles or for non-sailing minds, 46.300 kms. There are 15 teams, 6 more than in 2007 edition. All of the participant teams are:

- Central Lechera Asturiana

- Estrella Damm

- ESP 45

- Foncia

- Forum Maritim Catala

- Fruit

- Gaes Centros Auditivos (this Spanish-British team is female 100% .... Come on girls!!)

- Groupe Bel

- Hugo Boss (Alex Thompson, the British member of the team, had to be replaced by a substitute two days before starting the race, because of an urgent appendix operation)

- Mirabaud (this team is a couple partner in real life too, out of curiosity).

- Neutrogena Formula Norueg

- President

- Renault

- Virbac-Paprec

- We are water

Half the teams are Spanish, there are also 4 French teams and the rest are mixed teams from different countries.

The progression of the competitors in the race can be followed on the official web site, in this link: BARCELONA WORLD RACE website.

As well as the official website, you can also download the race podcasts with the audio content from the video conferences and the different communication between the boats. And besides, the Barcelona World Race will be present on all the major social network sites, as Facebook, Twitter or YouTube.

It will be quite exciting to keep following them!

IS IT A BIRD? IS IT A PLANE? NO, IT'S RAFA NADAL!

Rafa Nadal may well be said to have become a legend, after winning the U.S. Open on the 13th of September. He has made history becoming the first man since 1969 to win all four Grand Slams with a great victory over Noval Jokovic. He closes the best year in Spain’s sport history and solidifies his number one standing in the tennis rankings.

At the sight of his success achieved, only 24 years old, it may be really said indeed he is a superman in sport and even taking into account, that only a few months ago, his knee was still suffering from the injury he had last year.

That September, 13th he joined the seven best players who have won all four majors: the Australia Open, Wimbledon, Roland Garros and U.S. Open.

Shortly before jumping to the New York court, another tennis legend, John McEnroe said to him: "History is waiting for you", to which the Spanish replied smiling: "Thanks for the pressure."

And since everything that relates to  Rafa Nadal interests to people, now it has been released into press the presence of a beautiful dark-haired girl who always accompanies him, she is his girlfriend Xisca, that although she has always remained a discreet place, she has been his great support since three years ago when they started their relationship. They met at age 14 when they went to the same school. She has just finished for Administration and Management at the University. And she was a great support for him when during his horrible year in 2009, with his knee injury and divorce of their parents.

He says he is not perfect, but we would say, well maybe he is not, but he is very close to it. Let’s hope he remains fully fit for a very long time and mostly and above all, he remains as outstanding and genuinely good guy forever!

Taking off  the stress in Thailand holidays

 

June 5th, 2011

Rafa Nadal has won today his 6th Roland Garros in Paris, tying him with Bjorn Borg and his 10th Grand Slam. This time he beat Roger Federer in a 3 hours and 40 minutes game.

This time he said when he won: "Sólo puedo dar gracias a la vida" (I only can thank life).

Congratulations Rafa, once more!

INCREDIBLE WELCOME HOME TO THE RED SPANISH TEAM

Princesses Leonor and Sofia

I think it has been something amazing and to be remembered, the overwhelming reception of the people (more than a million people) to the Red team this afternoon in Madrid and as a witness and to keep memory of it, I leave here a few photos I have selected, after making a varied press review.

and a replica of the Cup

also for Paul, of course!

THE SIMPSONS ALSO SUPPORT LA ROJA

Since starting the World Cup and especially in the last two weeks, this country is different, as we have changed, suddenly everyone is happy and content, the whole world is united under one flag that is red and yellow and there are no crisis, unemployment, strikes and wage cuts. Is this good? Is it bad? Suddenly we are more concerned about what Paul says to the octopus to know if the deficit is reduced. And this fever (much more powerful than influenza A) has spread throughout the country.

Anyway, as I will not be any spoilers in my socio-economic reflections on this day, I will surrender to the contagious "happiness" of the day and will support the Red, even I have been persuaded by friends to go this afternoon to see the ambientillo that breathes through the Plaza de Colón (the celebrations headquarters) to the vuvuzelas and all the rest and I will tell you! And Paul, I hope you are right!

And here I leave to Shakira, who also

supports to La Roja

January 2011

A great amount of drawings have been made of La Roja since they won. And one of the funniest and most famous has been the one in which they are caricatured in a Sympson's style, as you can see here:

YOU CAN DO IT!

Usually I am not a football fan, but in this case, when my national football team (called La Roja) is playing in the World Cup 2010 South Africa Championship, I have to make an exception and in the end, even if you don't want to know about it, you finish knowing when, where and with whom your national team is playing.

Perhaps you'll be wondering why Spanish football team is called La Roja and the reason is that Luis Aragones (head coach of the national team) in the summer of 2004, thought that the fans would get more involved with their team if they could have a pet name and he thought the team could be called the red (as Uruguay is the light blue, or France the bleus or Italy the Azzurri, or England the pross, or Holland the orange) because of the red color of the team shirt.

And although I know that Spain started in the World Cup as one of the favorites, they played against Switzerland on Wednesday and lost (and to be honest, Switzerland is not a strong team, to be feared of).

Nevertheless, today the Red team plays its second game, this time against Honduras at 20:30 in Johannesburg at Ellis Park (let's hope it will be lucky for the Spanish team, the same as it was for Mandela and his national rugby team in 1995!) and at that time in my country we will all be encouraging our Red team. You can do it! ¡Animo!

RAFA NADAL WINS BACK IN PARIS

¡Bravo Rafa! You got it!

Rafa Nadal has won the 5th French Open after beating Sterling in 6-4, 6-2, 6-4. With this victory, Nadal will move to the top of the rankings on Monday, supplanting Federer.

By the age of 17, Nadal was ranked in the world's top 50 players and now, being 24 years old last 3rd of June, he has added another Prize in his brilliant rank that includes, among many others, several Wimbledon, Roland Garros, one Gold medal in the Beijing Olympics Games in 2008 or Prince of Asturias Prize of Sports.

This humble man born in Palma de Mallorca (Balearic Islands, Spain) has got to the top, humble and great Rafa, you deserve it!

Rafa featured in a video clip with

Shakira in her song “Gitana” (Gypsy)

(please, silence the Ipod first)

EDURNE PASABAN CLIMBED THE WORLD 14 HIGHEST PEAKS

Last May 17th, Edurne Pasaban climbed the Shisha Pangma (8.027 metres, in Tibet, China) and with that climb she got all fourteen eight-thousanders on earth. The Spanish climber has become the 2nd woman to conquer all fourteen eight-thousanders, after Korean Oh Eun-Sun. Pasaban has questioned Oh's claim to have reached the summit of Kanchenjunga, the world's third highest peak, in 2009. Oh says she has proofs.

Pasaban topped Shisha Pangma, the smallest of the 14 peaks, a month after climbing Annapurna. She began the 14 peaks with Everest in 2001. The 36-year-old Basque was accompanied by a three-man Spanish team.

When Edurne was a  child in Tolosa (Guipuzcoa) she didn’t dream of becoming a professional climber, she just practised climbing because in Tolosa people usually does climbing. She studied Industrial Engineering and later run her first business, a rural house lodging.

After she got her recent hazard and was resting at her campsite she wondered if those ten years spent climbing the highest mountains in the world have been useful but then she concluded that she has been very happy doing it and as happiness is definitely something valuable,  her message to people is to enjoy and to be happy, doing whatever makes you feel really happy...... Good advice!

Just in case you are interested in having a look at her webpage to see the beautiful photos and explanations of her hazards, you can just have a look at her link:    Edurne web page

01/09/2010 

I am dropping these lines today to tell that last weekend Edurne Pasabán was declared the first woman in the world to climb all 14 eight-thousanders after Miss Hawley, the world mountaineering judge sent to her a letter telling that she had not recognized Miss Oh Eun-Sun one of her peaks.

Edurne has said to the press that she really feels sorry for Miss Oh because she thinks the Korean climber has been under pressure from her environment which led her to distort evidences.

Very well done Edurne!!