The Abutrica Association wants to create a High Performance Sports Centre with the aim of training athletes at all levels in Miranda do Corvo and to continue to create infrastructures for the sport to grow sustainably in the coming years. The revelation was made in the online debate "Trail Running, more than a race!", which took place on 30 January, on the 11th edition of Trilhos dos Abutres.
The future of the sport
"The future of the sport" was the theme that opened the initiative, bringing together José Carlos Santos, Vice President of the International Trail Running Association, Rui Pinho, President of the Portuguese Trail Running Association, and Jorge Vieira, President of the Portuguese Athletics Federation (FPA), who debated the strategy needed for the near future of mountain running. "The richness of athletics has increased with the advent of trail running", says Jorge Vieira, the President of the FPA, guaranteeing the FPA's support for this sport. For his part, Rui Pinho affirms the existence of efforts to integrate trail running into athletics. This is in the interest of the association, the athletes, and the whole community. José Carlos Santos highlights the double-digit growth of trail running and says the pandemic had a very positive effect on the sport, with an increase in demand for outdoor sports, the appearance of new formats and new business groups that are investing in outdoor running events.
Trail running vs active Tourism
"Over the past 20 years, the Aldeias do Xisto have always focused on the three pillars: sport, tourism, and nature",says Rui Simão, executive director of ADXTUR - Schist Villages Tourism Development Agency, who participated in the "Trail running vs. active tourism” panel. An idea reinforced by Turismo do Centro’s President, Pedro Machado, who recalled the strong effort that his organisation has been doing in Ecotourism as a way to fully enjoy all nature has to offer, in an environmentally sustainable way. The Mayor of Miranda do Corvo, Miguel Baptista, took the opportunity to challenge all local authorities that host trail competitions to create a council network in Portugal, in order to improve the conditions of such events in the country. With all participants recognising the positive impact that events such as Trilhos dos Abutres represent for the region, António Figueiredo, vice-chancellor of the University of Coimbra, stated the faculty's availability to help in the strategy of the sport's evolution with all the "tools" at its disposal, from engineering to psychology.
Competitiveness on the Trail
In the panel “Competitiveness on the Trail", Mariana Machado and André Rodrigues, winners of the Ultra National Championship, underlined the importance of psychological preparation for the competitions, as well as the need to have a High Competition Athlete Statute for the young athletes that could benefit from it. José Sá, responsible for the National Trail Champion Team Bifase, guarantees that the Bifase team is still motivated and hungry for victory, looking forward to 2020.
The event also included the launch of the mini-film "60 segundos mais Épicos“ (60 most epic seconds), a compilation of the best moments of the 2020 edition of the Trilhos dos Abutres, made by the Cream Agency.
