The Island Sports Service held the meeting of the jury of the VII Sports Gala this Wednesday, which will be held on February 17 at the Jameos del Agua, announcing the first winners and the nominees for individual and collective sports achievement.
“From the area we are working hard to offer an event that lives up to the sporting level we have in Lanzarote and La Graciosa”, said the Minister of Sports, Juan Monzón, who also congratulated the winners “for the different objectives achieved during the past year”.
Regarding individual and collective sports achievements, three nominees have been established for each of the categories in both male and female. The jury will decide and announce the winners in these categories on February 17 at the Jameos del Agua.
The young surfer and world champion Dylan Donnegan, the Olympic gymnast Rayderley Zapata and the sailor Alonso Pérez are the nominees in the individual sports achievement, while in the female category are the young karateka Amelie Skiba, the futsal player and international for Spain Carolina Bravo and the world champion of Pole Dance, Diana López.
On the other hand, in the category of collective male sports achievement, the nominees are the pair of sailors Alfredo González and Cristian Sánchez; the Unión Sur Yaiza after its historic promotion to the Second RFEF; and CB San José Obrero after its promotion to the Silver Honor Division.
In the female category, the nominated teams are CD Orientación Marítima after its promotion to the Second RFEF Women's; the Puerto del Carmen Handball Club that won the promotion to the Gold Honor Division; and the Isla de Lanzarote Sports Club of gymnastics, medalist team in the island games.
“There are many athletes and clubs that could be nominated in these categories, so I want to take this opportunity to congratulate not only the nominees but all those who practice sports on our island”, said Monzón.
Awards granted for the VII Sports Gala
Sports Legend
Aroa Merino. The athlete from Lanzarote managed to stand out in two different and demanding disciplines such as triathlon and athletics. At the age of 22, she started in triathlon, participating in several editions of the Ironman in Lanzarote and competing in two World Championships of the discipline in Hawaii after the good marks obtained.
After completing 10 Ironman distance events, she finished her journey in triathlon and entered athletics, where she also managed to stand out. In this new stage, she started in popular competitions until she stood out as one of the best athletes in the Canary Islands.
The marks she managed to obtain in the different events led her to achieve: several Canary Islands Championships, or some Spanish runner-up championships in marathon or 10km mode, among other things.
Human Values
Tomás Quesada. The work carried out by Tomás Quesada extends to more than 40 years. After arriving in the south of Lanzarote and having competed in some wrestling clubs, he found his vocation: to train wrestlers.
In addition to the necessary techniques for a sport such as Canarian wrestling, Quesada has been able to transmit firm values such as education, effort and sacrifices to thousands of young people who have spent afternoons with him in the arena.
In this way, he has been able to train some of the best wrestlers in the discipline, receiving in 1999 the Trophy for Best Quarry in the Canary Islands.
Quarry work award
Club Natación Nadamás. The swimming club has carried out a great job throughout the year, managing to get boys and girls of various categories to train, reaching approximately 40 swimmers.
In addition, the Nadamás club manages to compete at an excellent level both nationally and regionally, obtaining among its ranks several great participations such as in the National Championship of Barcelona, the National Absolute Junior of Sabadell or the National Open Water in Seville, among others.
Research Award
Guillermo González Raviña, author of the book “Dongui”. Former school teacher and coach of various sports for several decades was responsible for collecting more than 1,000 images and numerous writings to give life to “Dongui”, a book of about 500 pages that talks about a large part of the sports history of the island of Lanzarote.
Award for native sports
Emilio Tavío: He was always linked to fishing in Lanzarote. In this way, he became a very important figure in the port history of Arrecife. The conejero fisherman would know better than anyone the coastline of the capital, its islets and shallows (areas with stones on the coast of Arrecife) that had to be avoided in the imposing days of low tide when it was time to work from the Charco de San Ginés. In addition, he was a strong promoter of the conejeras traditions.
Sports promotion award
IES Yaiza Triathlon. After 25 years of celebrating this event, the triathlon of the Institute of the southern municipality has become one of the great events of school sports in the Canary Islands.
The last edition of the sports event, which had more than 900 triathletes, in addition to having students from the different educational centers of the island of Lanzarote, had the participation of several students from centers from Fuerteventura and Tenerife.
The test consists of an 800-meter open water swim, a 1,200-meter link race and finally, a 3.5-kilometer circuit by bicycle, thus touring all the corners of Yaiza.
Best sports event award
Spanish U-23 Badminton Championship. Last November Lanzarote hosted this important national sports event that brought together the best athletes of this modality. A tournament organized by the Spanish Badminton Federation and the Auria Badminton Club.
Special mention
In the special mention category, the jury of the VII Sports Gala has decided to award this distinction to José Antonio Valido, delegate of the Interinsular Football Federation of Las Palmas in Lanzarote in recent decades; and to Natalia García, reference and youth player of CD Magec Tías recently retired.