“He City of Palma Trophy It will mark a before and after in our sport. We were taking a while to organize an event like this in the Parc de la Mar, a setting that seems made to host a major canoeing competition». The triple Olympic medalist and standard bearer of the Spanish team in Paris 2024, Marcus Cooper, is eager to row in his homeland on October 12, the date set for the first Ciutat de Palma Canoeing event under the organization of the Real Club. Nautical of Palma.
The competition, in which they have already confirmed their participation some of the best flatwater paddlers in the world (16 men and 16 women), was created with the double objective of, on the one hand, establishing a major annual international canoeing event in Mallorca and, on the other, bringing the spectacular nature of this sport to the general public on an urban track.
Cooper, bronze in K4 and fourth classified in K2 in the last Olympic Games, will be one of the stars present in this new competition, where A never-before-seen regatta format will be launchedadapted to the characteristics of the artificial saltwater lake located at the foot of the Cathedral of Mallorca, in the historic center of the Balearic capital.
“The Parc de la Mar has very hard water, It will be a test for true gladiators in which there will be more splashing than usual and in which people will have the opportunity to see from very close the effort on the faces of the athletes,” explains Marcus Cooper, convinced that the limitation of the distance from the lake, far from representing a handicap, will make the competition “more spectacular” and offer spectators “the possibility of enjoying both the beginning and the end of the event”, something that does not happen in official competitions.
Carlos Borrascanoeist at the Real Club Náutico de Palma and director of the event, assures that participants will not be informed of the exact distance and route until the day before the competition, although Marcus Cooper assumes that It will be an “explosive” regatta with a ciaboga maneuver to round a mark. This circumstance, says Borrás, minimizes the difference between distance runners and sprinters and allows both profiles “to have the possibility of victory in the same event.”
The Real Club Náutico de Palma admits that, at first, it was not very sure whether the athletes would accept the invitation to participate in such a novel event. “We had a very big doubt, since our aspiration was to organize a trophy at the highest world level and we did not know what the response would be. We immediately saw that Mallorca, and specifically Palma, has a great attraction for athletes, and now we are very calm with the starting list we have,” confesses Borrás, who claims the long history of the canoeing section of the Real Club Náutico de Palma and its important international record, which includes world and European medalists.
Manu Fragadirector of the club and the organization of the Copa del Rey de Vela, assures that the Ciutat de Palma de Palma de Canoeing is destined to become a benchmark from its first edition. “We have been thinking about creating an event of these characteristics for some time. Although it is true that our entity enjoys a lot of prestige as a host of sailing competitions, we had yet to put on a great show focused on canoeing. Our commitment has been to bring the best in the world so that the city of Palma can enjoy it.”
