Local News
New York native volunteers for Campeonato de Espana
For three days in June our amazing town of Nerja hosted the prestigious Campeonato de Espana ( Championship of Spain .) The events were held in the Enrique Lopez Cuenca Stadium on Friday , Saturday , and Sunday , June 24 , 25 , and 26 , and were televised on Teledeporte and live streamed on the RTVE website . The Campeonato is important because many of the
Vault , Men ’ s Pole Vault , Men ’ s Discus , Women ’ s Discus , Women ’ s Triple Jump , Men ’ s Triple Jump , Decathalon , Hepathalon , Men ’ s Long Jump , Men ’ s 5000 metre Race , Men ’ s 100 metre Race , Women ’ s 100 metre Race , Men ’ s Javelin , Women ’ s Javelin , Men ’ s 400 metre Race , Women ’ s 400 metre Race , Men ’ s 800 metre Race , Women ’ s 800 metre Race , Men ’ s 200 metre Race , Women ’ s 200 metre Race , Men ’ s 1500 metre Race as well as a few others .
I consider myself very lucky because I got to meet many of the athletes and watch them compete over three days . I had unique perspective because I was one of approximately 150 volunteers who assisted at the event . Nearly all of the volunteers were born in Spain and most were born and raised in Nerja . From three days of interactions with my fellow volunteers I counted that I was only one of a handful of extranjeros ( foreigners ) and I was definitely the only native New Yorker .
All volunteers were asked to report at 07:00 AM on Friday morning and many of us worked the morning and evening places for the Munich European Athletic Championships and World Athletic Championships in Eugene , Oregon were decided at this event . Both competitions are scheduled for later this summer and the Campeonato was the final event for athletes to qualify for the event in the USA . More importantly , looking into the future , these could be some of the Spanish athletes we will see competing in the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris .
There were 782 registered athletes who competed in a variety of events including : Women ’ s Walk ( speed walking ), Men ’ s Walk , Women ’ s Hammer Throwing , Men ’ s Hammer Throwing , Men ’ s Hurdles , Women ’ s Hurdles , Women ’ s Pole
Jeff Jensen with Karen Cillie and Dr Rik Heymans
shifts for all three days . The volunteer team assisted with all aspects of supporting the athletes , including setting up hurdles , hanging signs , setting up tents , setting out chairs , handing athletes water as they ran , setting up mats under the pole vault , raking the sand in the long and triple jumps , assisting spectators to their seats , escorting athletes , and keeping watch over their personal belongings as they competed .
Other foreign born volunteers included Dr Rik Heymans and his lovely wife ( and nurse ) Karen Cillie who are very engrained in Nerja . They ’ ve lived and worked here for just about 20 years , speak excellent Spanish , and raised two extremely fluent , Spanish speaking sons . Dr . Rik and Karen were on the team responsible for escorting athletes for random urine tests to prove they did not take performance-enhancing drugs . I was on the team that conducted surveys and anonymous interviews with the athletes about their performance-enhancing drug use .
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