Barcelona will host the 2012 World Junior Athletics Championships

The International Association of Athletics Federations Council has agreed that Barcelona will host the 14th IAAF World Junior Athletics Championships in 2012.

The decision was taken the last Monday 15th March 2010, in the city of Doha (Qatar), where Barcelona was also chosen as the venue for its centenary celebrations.

Barcelona’s Mayor, Jordi Hereu, announced that “thanks to this new nomination, Barcelona is continuing to consolidate its status as an international sports event capital, showing once again its organisational capacities and the popular enthusiasm such events arouse“.

The junior athletics championships feature athletes under the age of 20 (born on or after 1993 in the case of the 2012 championships) and have been held biennially since the first in Athens in 1986.

Over 2.000 athletes will be taking part in the teams making up the delegations from over 180 IAAF members. There are 44 events with medals.

Furthermore, next July will see Barcelona play host to the European Athletics Championship.

The Firefighters Race, Lace Up Save Lives

The registration period has opened for the Cursa de Bombers, or the Firefighters Race, the big springtime’s athletics event, and it will close on 12 April or when the limit set at 18.000 runners has been reached.

The entry fee is 13 euros for those who already have their own yellow chip or 16 euros for those who don’t. For those registering on or after 15 March, it will cost 19 euros. Entries can be made online via the race website or in person at registration points.

This year the race will be collecting funds for the fight against AIDS in Africa, with all the profits from the sale of Nike (RED) trainer laces going wholly to the RED initiative, the foundation set up by U2’s Bono.

The run’s organisers are repeating the initiative of previous years, namely a pre-race training programme called the Lunaruns, night-time orienteering runs that will be held on 24 and 31 March, and 7 and 14 April.

Tour:
The Firefighters Race will set off from Avinguda del Marquès de l’Argentera, next to Ciutadella Park, on Sunday 18 April, and will cover 10 km through the city’s main streets. The terraces of the Hotel Barcelona Universal & Hotel Soho Barcelona will be perfect points for athletics fans to watch the race.

Win a shirt of F.C. Barcelona with the U232 Hotel

Every quarter we will raffle a FC Barcelona Official T-shirt among all who have stayed at the U232 Hotel with Futbol Pack. The first raffle will be on April, 1st 2010.

Win a shirt of F.C. Barcelona and take the opportunity to enjoy a weekend in the comfortable Hotel U232 near the city centre as well as Camp Nou! The offer suggests a visit to the FC Barcelona museum. Futbol Club Barcelona is a repository of more than 100 years of history, or rather, stories which are an intrinsic part of an epic sport.

The Museu del Barça, which is housed on the Camp Nou stadium, was a pioneer in the world of football when it opened in 1984 and traces the 110 years of Barça’s history. Here, you’ll find photographs, audiovisual exhibits, collections of anecdotes, curiosities, the trophies won by all the club’s sections, objects belonging to its star players and temporary exhitions. It’s designed for young children and adults with 1.2 million visitors a year, is one of the city’s most popular museums.

The U232 FOOTBALL PACK includes:

• 2 nights in a U232 room.
• Package is also available on Basic room or Family room.
• Breakfast in the exclusive/amazing U232 buffet restaurant.
• Welcome drink in the U232 bar for 2 persons.
• 2 tickets to the Camp Nou Tour and FC Barcelona Museum.
• We will raffle a FCBarcelona T-Shirt every 3 months.

Don’t think it twice, book now your Football Pack !!

Global Sports Forum Barcelona

How does sport influence society? Is it an economic or political driving force? These are some of the questions that will be addressed in Barcelona between 8 and 10 March, at the second Global Sports Forum, a discussion platform that will turn Barcelona into a sports capital.

Over the three days close to sixty specialists and representatives from the world of sport, hailing from more than fifteen countries, will be sharing their experiences, to reach the best conclusions for setting up new sporting projects during the year. This year the organisers have decided to reduce the number of speakers, which last year stood at around a hundred and sixty, to address the issues in greater depth and rigour.

This big international debate will centre on eight issues structure along four general areas: new technologies, large sporting events, sustainability and youth in sport.

Participants will analyse the relationship between sport and education; philanthropy and co-operation; culture and creativity; health; geopolitics; the sports industry and large sporting events. All delivered through a series of lectures and small work groups.

A new feature this year is the creation of the Global Sports Forum Barcelona Trophies, an award for the best sports initiatives of the year. The aim of the awards is to highlight those projects that best illustrate the eight themes addressed at the conference.

Global Sports Forum Barcelona website  |  NN Hotels

Barcelona Marató 2010

Over 10,000 runners will be rising to the challenge of completing the Barcelona Marathon, this coming March 07, 2010. This year will see the biggest ever number of runners in the race’s history and that in a year when athletics is the star attraction in Barcelona, with the city holding the 20th European Athletics Championships this summer.

The main new features of the Barcelona Marathon this year are focused on improving the event for aficionados and runners alike. In addition, the race is keeping overall to its basic route, despite a few changes, which means it will pass the city sights for tourists and keep to the athletics aim of a faster race, with fewer sharp turns or narrow avenues and fewer inclines.

Barcelona Marató Website  |  NN Hotels: www.nnhotels.com

Football: host cities and respect - the first UEFA Seminar

Barcelona is organising the first UEFA seminar on receiving followers of international football matches. On 1 and 2 February, a number of cities and representatives of football clubs from all over Europe will share their experiences of staging international matches based around hospitality and respect for the host cities.

During this meeting, Barcelona’s Mayor, Jordi Hereu; the UEFA President, Michael Platini and the other participants will sign a memorandum of understanding to promote respect and fair play in cities where international competitions are staged.

Under this commitment from the cities, clubs and fans, the aim is to highlight the desire to combat the violence and acts of vandalism which surround international football events. At the same time the signatories will demonstrate their commitment to improving communication channels and information exchanges, to improve how fans are received during European competitions.

Source: www.bcn.es

The Children’s Festival during Christmas holiday

Immersing yourself in a mysterious jungle, painting recycled water bottles, taking part in a cart race, jumping on trampolines, playing on “Planet Basketball”, cooking fruit and vegetables, travelling through virtual settings, becoming a firefighter for a day, scaling artificial climbing walls and taking part in juggling, magic and circus workshops, are just some of the many activities you’ll be able to do at the Children’s Festival, which is being held from 27 December to 4 January at Fira de Barcelona’s Montjuïc site. This year’s event will be celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Convention on Children’s Rights.

Sport will be one of the Festival’s pillars. Children will find areas for playing football, basketball, climbing, skating, hockey, Olympic shooting, cycling, cart racing, athletics and taekwondo. Other highlights in the programme include game activities, such as merry-go-rounds, trampolines and games of every kind, plus shows, with this years featuring performances by clowns, magicians, storytellers, puppets, children’s theatre, human castle makers and Bollywood artists.

Children’s rights will have a place in several of the festival’s activities, which will be promoting creativity and solidarity among children in a playful and educational way, as well as encouraging sport, physical activities and healthy eating habits, instilling values such as respecting diversity, integration, healthy coexistence and looking after the environment.

47th Children’s Festival  |  From 27/12/2009 to 04/01/2010
Fira Barcelona -> Av Reina Maria Cristina, 2 | Sants-Montjuïc

Cursa del Nassos (Nose Race)

Since 1999, when the Cursa dels Nassos - Saint Silvester of Barcelona - Ibercaja Gran Prix began, the number of runners participating in the race has grown significantly. Last year the race reached a spectacular record number of 8.500, which was the registration limit set out by the organization. Many men and women athletes have decided that they do not want to miss this chance to participate in the final race of the year, despite winter temperatures.

The “Cursa dels Nassos” (or Nose Race, as the name comes from the fact that the date coincides with the last day in the life of the Man of Many Noses, a popular character in Catalan folklore) has become one of the most important sporting and festive events in the city sports calendar.

This year’s Cursa dels Nassos race continues to arouse great interest, as can be seen by registration numbers. With only two weeks to go before the event there are more than 7.000 signed up, while last year at this time participation was just over 5.000.

For this reason, the organization has set out a maximum number of 9.000 participants for this edition. This is the only way to ensure the sporting quality of the race without forgetting the need for continual growth in terms of participation, which is one of the ways to consolidate the Cursa dels Nassos - Saint Silvester of Barcelona - Ibercaja Gran Prix as a highly popular athletic event, both in terms of competition and participation.

Buff Epic Run: A mad mud race

Next Sunday December, 20th from 10.30 am on, Montjuïc Castle and other surrounding spaces will become the setting for the Buff®  Epic Run®, a 10-km course with several obstacles to get through including mud pools, straw walls, tube mountains, tyre barriers and rope mazes.

This exceptional 10-km course will have over a thousand participants and include a special race for children between the ages of 13 and 16, which will cover several points on Montjuïc mountain, the most notable being the Castell grounds. You can still sign up for it, but places are limited. Enrolments can be made until December, 17th. 

Here you can see the official videoclip of 2008 Edition:

There are lots of prizes for the adult race and these are varied and highly original, and those taking part on the race in fancy dress will have also some extra points. Awards will go for the most capable in overcoming obstacles, in men’s and women’s categories; for the person who has come the furthest to take part; and for the oldest and youngest participants; prizes for the best fancy dresses, as an individual and in a group; the largest fancy-dressed group, the most original fancy-dressed group, etc…

More inf@: Buff Epic Run Ocisport

Jean Bouin Race

The Jean Bouin Race was started in Barcelona in 1920 by a group of journalists and sports promoters who were athletics enthusiasts, namely Josep Anton Trabal, Lluís Meléndez and Rossend Calvet, who named the event after the legendary French athlete, Jean Bouin, who was the runner-up in the Stockholm Olympics of 1912, holder of various world records between 1911 and 1913 and killed in action during the First World War.

Since then, this classic Catalan and Spanish athletics event, has never stopped inspiring local athletes as well as runners from around the world. The only time it was not held was during the Spanish Civil War, between 1937 and 1939, and, owing to specific problems at the time, between 1955 and 1967.

The event is unique in what it offers, as it is the only one to include a great variety of races and which has been adopting further categories year after year

In all, the Jean Bouin is made up of 13 races of various categories and distances - including one for people with disabilities in wheelchairs and another for people who have had organ transplants. The best known is the Open Race, open to anyone, Federation runner or not.

It will be held on 29 November 2009. Online entries can be made until 12 midnight on 25 November, though the period could close before should the maximum number of 5,000 participants set by the organisers be reached.

The Open Race will go through Paral·lel avenue and Gran Via, making our Hotel Barcelona Universal, Hotel Granvia and Hotel Soho Barcelona balconies and windows the perfect places to see runners from.

More inf@: Jean Bouin Race ..::.. Jean Bouin in Wikipedia

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