Solidarity, sport and hope with strong and brave women at the helm. These are the essential pillars by which the ambitious Pelayo Life-Vuelta a España Sailing Challenge is governed, which landed on Thursday August 20 at Marina el Portet de Dénia; and that has the close collaboration of the local Sailing Club directed by Chiqui González and Yann Lythgoe.
Angela Pumariega, London gold medalist and director of the challenge, and Diego Fructuoso, Finn sailing class Olympic coach and sports director of the competition, have traveled to the Alicante city in order to decide which adventurers will be part of this great challenge that will start from October 12 to 26, 2020.
The next few days are expected to be of maximum intensity for the eleven women who have been selected to fill the five places that will give them the direct pass to participate in the Tour of Spain. The common nexus of these eleven winners is courage, as they are, like the more than 300 initial candidates who presented themselves for the challenge, women who have won the battle against cancer.
The first to arrive in Dénia have been María Aldama, Nuria Gómez and Lorena Madrid, who, along with the Olympian Pumariega and the coach Fructuoso, were received by the director of Marina El Portet, Luis Mira. Mira congratulated the athletes and invited them to enjoy the leisure and gastronomy that the city offers while giving them his "full support in this magnificent initiative that combines solidarity and nautical sports."
María Aldama, Nuria Gómez and Lorena Madrid have confessed that they are nervous, “we practice sports, we have started in the world of sailing, and we are aware that the five selected will be on board a formula one of the sea, with a group of professionals who will go around Spain, so we will try to give everything and prove our worth ". In this sense, it should be noted that the Pelayo Vida Challenge focuses on the bet of women who are not expert nautical sportsmen, that is, they are ordinary women, cancer survivors, who are given the opportunity to live a unique experience in the sea.
The three agree that “this is a golden opportunity” and they send a positive message “fighting cancer is possible, we want everyone to know that they are not alone, that like them there are many who fight and encourage them to seek refuge also in sports, because it has helped us a lot ”.
Since yesterday, on board the Mikay, the boat that the local sailing club has made available to the Pelayo Challenge, the members of the team will set sail to the east, bound for Ibiza to begin the first cutting tests.
