The municipality of Yaiza has brought together the best underwater imagers from all over Spain between September 13 and 15 with the simultaneous celebration of three national championships: the premiere of the Spanish Inclusive Photography Championship, the 35th Spanish Underwater Photography Championship and the 24th Spanish Underwater Video Championship. A total of 79 specialists of the underwater image that scrutinized our seabed in four dives in search of the best images, “photographs and videos that will go around the world,” says Sports Councilor Ángel Lago.
Nine participants were especially applauded at the closing gala held this Saturday night in the marquee of the marina of Puerto Calero, in which the names of the winners in the different categories of each of the championships at stake were announced, “people who with their strength and character teach us all to see life differently,” highlighted eThe vice president of FEDECAS, Ángel Botránreferring to the participants of the inclusive modality.
Although for them “simply being able to be here is already a reward”, as Luis María, one of the participants, from Logroño, pointed out, they were also visibly excited and nervous waiting for the verdict of the jury, which named first Spanish champion of Inclusive Underwater Photography to the Valencian Carlos López, who was accompanied by his assistant Vicente Javier Renovell, by achieving a total of 106 points. The second position, with 89 points, went to Ernesto Gregorio Collado from Gran Canaria and his companion Carlos Álvarez, and the third for Antonio Alejo Nieto from Tenerife together with IA Lasso, with 72 points. It should be noted that Alejo could not participate in the two dives on the second day or attend the awards ceremony due to an illness and it was his assistant, Lasso, who went up to the stage to collect the award.
In addition to the prizes in the different modalities (Fish, Close Up, Free, Thematic and Angular without model), the organization decided to give a “special prize to the best athlete” to Ismael Marcelino González, who despite having lost his camera under the sea on the second dive he continued enjoying the tournament and taking, as he indicated, the best snapshots saved in his mind.
For its part, in the 44 athletes participated in the Photography Championship, representing 14 Spanish federations. Yeray Delgado from Tenerife was the one who won the 2023 Spanish champion trophy with 102 points together with his assistant Abigail Martín, completing the podium with Jesús Osorio together with Celia Padilla (73 points) and Rafael Fernández with Óscar Luna (67); while in the Video Championship there were 26 athletes, from a total of 8 federations, with the Valencian team formed by Manuel Blanco and Iván Andreu winning the film category with editing, and the Galicians Jorge Candan and Pilar Barros, in film without editing. It should also be noted that, in the autonomous community category, the Canary Islands took first place, followed by Andalusia and Castilla y León.
Visibly moved, the vice president of FEDECAS, Ángel Botrán, wanted to highlight the great work of all the participants whom he described as “artists” for a work that “does not have enough recognition.”
For his part, Luciano Cedrés, president of FEDECAS, could not be present at the gala but he did do so through a video, in which he wanted to make special mention of this first edition of the inclusive championship, in addition to remembering José Luis González and Pedro Arroyo, deceased people linked to underwater photography.
The person in charge of the Yaiza Sports Area, Ángel Lago, participated in the awards ceremony together with the councilors Águeda Cedrés and Beatriz Vázquez, and wanted to thank the Puerto Calero and Marina Rubicón marinas, the federations, Turismo Lanzarote and, especially, the local diving centers, “for the effort made to support this event and for Yaiza and Lanzarote to be seen in all corners of the world.” Lago confirmed his commitment to creating synergies between tourism and sport and ended by announcing that “we are going to try to bring the World Championship to Lanzarote as well.”
Environmental awareness day
Also on Saturday but in the morning, Las Coloradas Beach, in Playa Blanca, hosted the inclusive and environmental awareness activities of the Diverse Diving for All Festival, which accompanies the inclusive championship and in which about half hundreds of people in initiatives such as cleaning the beach and its surroundings, diving, snorkeling, freediving, kayaking and workshops. A day also intended to demonstrate that we can all enjoy the seabed because as some of the participants pointed out “the sea has no barriers, it is accessible, the problem is that they put barriers in our way to reach it.”
The day ended with a fellowship lunch between the organization, championship participants and neighbors who took part in the festival activities.
The Councilor for the Environment, Águeda Cedrés, satisfied with the development of the championship and the festival, praises “the courage and desire to improve of the participants of the inclusive modality”, pointing out that “they are an example to follow”, and highlights that “Making the beauty of our seabed known encourages both neighbors and visitors to care more about its care and protection.” Happy that this year a further step forward has been taken by joining the inclusive photography modality to the Spanish Championship, she assures that “the Yaiza City Council will always have its hand extended to collaborate with this contest so that we can all know and “enjoy our fabulous seabed.”
2023-09-18 20:06:16
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