2023-11-21 05:01:04
One hundred and twenty years after the first recorded soccer match was played in Avilés, one of those pioneers of “football” in the municipality – Ramón Fernández-Arenas García, “Ralla” – is going to receive the popular tribute that It is certainly deserved. And not only because of his contribution to the implementation of the so-called “king sport” but because Ralla is considered the precursor of other sports modalities: rowing, “cross country” (a rustic antecedent of athletics), modern mountaineering and cycling, having been one of the builders of the El Carnero velodrome, where at the beginning of the 20th century the first bicycle and even motorcycle races documented in Avilés were held.
It is for all of the above that the jury that awards the “Avilés Tiempo de Deporte” awards, meeting this Monday, decided to grant Ralla the Special award that distinguishes the Avilés personalities and clubs that mark the era. “He was the true and most genuine promoter of sport in Avilés,” assessed the members of the jury, who even took into account the most notorious failure of the honoree: having just arrived in 1903 from the United States, he wanted to promote the practice of baseball, a sport that then it proliferated in North America; he didn’t make it.
The jury also deliberated on which three candidates for the sports career award should take the stage this coming Friday at the “Avilés Tiempo de Deporte” awards gala and the chosen ones were the retired footballer (now coach) José Manuel Menéndez Erimia, ” Manuel”; the sports leader Sergio Villanueva, always linked to the Avilesina Athletic Association; and the swimmer Esther Bermúdez, an example of her personal improvement after a traffic accident that caused her serious injuries but did not manage to separate her from her passion for swimming, where she has once again obtained meritorious results.
In the “Basic Sports” chapter, this year’s winners will be María de los Ángeles Aparicio, who has been linked to the board of Club Patín La Luz for 18 years, setting an example of effectiveness and altruism; Pedro Ángel Santos González, head of the basketball section of the Avilesina Athletic Association for 15 years and previously a practitioner of that sport; and the marriage formed by María Teresa García Serrano and Ernesto González Corugedo, a popular couple from Aviles who has spent their entire life combining their work occupations with the practice of athletics and teaching it to new generations.
The Avilés sports gala, to be held this Friday, will also serve to make eight special mentions to people and clubs that have achieved relevant milestones in sports practice this year and to give public recognition to all the athletes and clubs of Avilés that managed to hang medal in Spanish, European or World championships in 2023.
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