West Mani Sports Festival
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video 2.08 mins
Yet another superb community event
Growing up in a fairly small, fairly dull UK town, I don’t have any memories at all of joining in any community events of any kind! In direct contrast, having lived here for 25 years, I still marvel at the way the local population puts their heart and soul into organising all kinds of occasions, from a kids Carnival party to the summer Panigiria to the more formal Oxi Day commemoration.
This year another day was added to the calendar- the resurrection of the “Maniacs” swimming and running competition in Stoupa (which existed from 2011-2019). What always strikes me the most (and June 21st was no exception) is how everyone wants to be involved, from small children and babies up to grandma and grandad. And how you get involved isn’t the point- you just find a way, either as a participant in the races or as a volunteer or just a supportive onlooker. And then the second noticeable characteristic is the level of organisation. Some serious planning must have gone into making the day so fun and run like clockwork. Once the races had started we were given a running commentary through the PA on what was happening in each race and it seemed to me that every participant’s name was known. Times were recorded and medals handed out to one and all.
The day went like this:
6 pm. Swimming races 500m, 1km and 2km.
7.15 pm. Children’s running race 1 km (in Stoupa)
7.30 pm. Running 5km and 10km.
If you’re wondering what the 5k and 10k route was, well, simple. The cycle path to Agios Nikolaos. The 5k runners midway point was at the Ventnum Club (previously Maniatiko) while the 10k-ers carried on to Pantazi beach before returning back to the finishing line in Stoupa.
But a significant motivation for bringing the event back to life hasn’t been mentioned yet- to raise money for the volunteer civil protection group, GAIA, based in Agios Nikolaos. I doubt anyone reading this hasn’t heard of them and in my lifetime here, they have grown into what the local newspaper, Tharros, described as “The guardian angels of the Mani”. So some fairly significant sponsors backed the festival- local donors you will know include Blauel Olive Oil, the Nema brewery, Dive Code and the Elies guesthouses in Kardamyli.
Quite rightly, the protocol here is to name names, so on the organizing committee were the local mayor, Giorgos Chioureas (who was stood at the finish line for all of the races), Dimitris Nezis from the Port Authority of Kalamata and locals Vasilis Koumanakou and Themis Angelopoulos. Forgive me if I have left someone out. The latter was responsible for organising the army of green t-shirted volunteers, who had a wide range of responsibilities, which they carried out to perfection. The organization Clean Mani were there too and of course GAIA themselves were on hand just in case…
“Great event – Stoupa was buzzing with positive energy as Greek running clubs, families and a smattering of expats participated in what I’m sure will become a midsummer fixture.”
So despite it being slap bang in the middle of the tourist season, it felt like everybody was there! An unexpected addition to proceedings were not one, but two performances by the local, multi-national, samba percussion group, KimVala. They started out at the midway point for the runners, jumped in a couple of vans to then play their half hour set again near the finishing line. Their pulsing rhythms helped flagging runners find that little bit extra….
So all in all, a fabulous day and big congratulations to everyone involved from Inside the Mani. A member of our Facebook group summed it up nicely by commenting “Great event – Stoupa was buzzing with positive energy as Greek running clubs, families and a smattering of expats participated in what I’m sure will become a midsummer fixture.”
And one final observation from me- everyone was smiling as the photos and short video clearly show!
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