When there is little more than two months left for the great international event of Asturian sport, the International Descent of the Sella, there is still a lot of suspicion Regarding the possible celebration of the test on August 7. Everything is at the expense of the decisive meeting that the heads of the Organizing Committee for the International Descent of the Sella (CODIS), led by Juan Manuel Feliz Granda, with the General Directorate of Sports of the Principality of Asturias and other senior officials of the Regional government. At the moment, a waiting time on the mythical bank of the Sella, although some paddlers see it as possible that the sports part can be developed.
“The only problem I see is the way to control the theme of the party, because you cannot prohibit people from leaving the house. But, the competition from my point of view should not be a problem for it to be done. Yes indeed, a Sella without people at the start, in Arriondas, would be a bit decaffeinated. The only thing I think about is that to do it, that it be done well. I don’t see a Sella with only 100 paddlers at all ”, said the paddler from La Cultural de Ribadesella Miguel Llorens López, Spanish marathon champion, who is in the middle of the preparation phase for the European Championship of the specialty.
“As far as the sporting event is concerned, there is no excuse for it not to be held, since sporting events of greater magnitude and without problems are being held. Regarding the control that must be carried out with the public, I think that with two years they have had to prepare it, it would be more than enough. In addition, we are talking about the fact that in August there is already talk of a quasi ‘group immunity. Sincerely, if it is not celebrated, it will be because they do not want to, not because it cannot be carried out ”, clarified the cangués Alberto Plaza Sagredo, winner of Sella (2017), as well as current runner-up (2019), and Llorens’s partner, in K-2, in the European marathon.
There will be more or less public, as the situation of the pandemic allows, argued dates ago from the Organizing Committee. In the CODIS there is a commission studying measures to be taken in the sports part and another commission for the festive part. There are restrictions on crowds at the parade, the start, the motorcade, the arrival, the food at the Oba vampos and the delivery of trophies. The Fluvial Train, which has been in all editions of the Sella since 1945, will be easy to control by limiting the number of passengers per wagon in accordance with possible restrictions.
What was confirmed in 2020 before the cancellation will remain in 2021, if the test is to be held, then, it has to be worth two. The Sella will celebrate the 90th anniversary that was not possible in the past financial year 2020 and the Fluvial Train its 75 years accompanying the canoes. The national ambassador is José Pérez, president of the Ecopilas Board; and the international ambassador is the paddler from Viedma (Argentina) Omar Linares, affectionately nicknamed “El Negro”. And the Sella poster is the work of Jesús Rodríguez Inclán, a distinguished cartoonist linked for decades to canoeing as a canoeist and as secretary of the Royal Spanish Canoeing Federation.
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