News

Ten years on, Formentera to Run still going

Thursday, 24 May 2018 11:01

Foto formentera to run The Formentera Council's offices of tourism and sport will lend support to the tenth Formentera to Run, a run in which participants traverse the island in multiple stages, covering a total of 60 kilometres.

Formentera to Run
The competition, whose distinct legs vary in length from 9 to 21.1K, kicks off Monday, May 28, and continues to Saturday, June 2. Participants can choose between two modalities—traditional race, and, for participants keen on a more relaxing tour of the island, Nordic walking.

Race winners will be determined based on combined total time across the individual stages. Every runner who completes the race will receive a medal for participation.

Formentera TRAIL 21.1
For the last five years, Formentera to Run's crowning event has been Formentera Trail 21.1. The tradition continues on Saturday (June 2) and participating runners can opt to have their times considered separately or as part of an overall score.

The demanding circuit offers up a 420-metre ascent and takes runners on a path that crosses la Mola from the lighthouse before descending camí de s'Estufador to Migjorn beach. From there, runners make their way back to la Mola via the Camí Romà towards their final destination, the lighthouse.

Formentera's spring of sport
Formentera to Run joins a brimming calendar of sports fixtures (Far a Far footrace, the half marathon and the "Marnaton" among them) that is aimed at showcasing Formentera as a low-season destination for travellers and fitness fans as well as promoting active lifestyles among islanders.

Formentera projects police force to grow by 6 this summer

Wednesday, 23 May 2018 16:14

Foto junta seguretat 2018 Vice-president Susana Labrador chaired a morning session of the island's Junta de Seguretat which was marked by the absence of administration chief Jaume Ferrer, on leave tending to health concerns, and the presence of Balearic envoy Maria Salom.

Others in attendance were the secretaries of the president's office, mobility and social welfare (Bartomeu Escandell, Rafael González and Vanessa Parellada, respectively), spokespersons of the island's distinct political parties, and representatives of the Guardia Civil, national and local law enforcement and civil protection corps.

Council officials say they hope to see six new officers added to Formentera's local police force in a selection process which, now concluded, drew some forty candidates. The meeting of the Junta also served as a sounding board for other issues —toughened stances on home break-ins, wildfires and vehicle fires— of concern to local residents.

Salom hailed what she called a “teamwork attitude” in the approach taken to safety on the island. She called a “tourist magnet” and highlighted “the positive vision Madrid disposes for the Balearics and Formentera”. The plan at the ministry level, said Salom, is to continue a two-year-old programme in which agents of the Italian carabinieri are dispatched to Formentera to provide additional summertime support.

Car fire breaks out on Can Marroig road

Tuesday, 22 May 2018 11:01

Foto incendi 2018 1 Early this morning local firefighters put out a small blaze that destroyed a car and scorched a small area of forest.

At 3.35am the fire brigade received notification via telephone that a fire had broken out on a road in Can Marroig abutting s'Estany des Peix. The response team included three firefighters, two vehicles and a Guardia Civil unit. Both the vehicle and two square metres of forest floor occupied by Savina juniper and bushes were incinerated. The team had extinguished the blaze entirely by 4.45am.

The Guardia Civil is currently leading an investigation into the cause of the fire.

This year's Festes de Sant Ferran feature seafood sampling

Tuesday, 22 May 2018 15:13

Festes sant ferran ball pages davidvergara The Formentera Council's department of culture has teamed up in Sant Ferran with the craft workers' association and the local parish to organise annual Festes celebrations. The party kicks off this weekend, May 25-27, and will extend to the diada de Sant Ferran (“Sant Ferran day”) on May 30.

Seafood tasting
This year for the first time ever, weekend festivalgoers can sample Galician seafood priced to move. The tasting, plus musical entertainment from Galician folk band Encrucillada, happens Friday at 8.00pm and Saturday and Sunday at 1.00pm.

Activities
Festes' main draws are Saturday at 6.00pm, when children and adults alike can enjoy an evening at the circus. Then comes a monologue by Marc Ribera, followed by a genre-spanning night of musical performances in which DJ Lluís, Luna Martínez and Maruja Limón distil the sounds of contemporary flamenco across Latin rhythms, Mediterranean music and pop.

Sunday at 3.00pm, local youth can enjoy an afternoon of games, music and tradition-steeped competitions. For the grand Festes finale on Wednesday, things take a turn for the traditional. Patron saint commemorations, which begin at 7.00pm with mass service and an ensuing procession in the town plaza, feature a demonstration of typical ball pagès dancing and traditional refreshments like orelletes. From 9.00pm it's the beginning of the end, with music and dancing to close out the party.

With road work recently completed, festivities over the weekend will be held in the street, at carrers València and Guillem de Montgrí. Diada celebrations will be centred in the Sant Ferran church square.

Return of the 'Marnaton'

Monday, 21 May 2018 16:37

Foto marnaton Formentera's offices of sport and tourism have lent their support to Copa Marnaton, an open-water swimming fixture that returns to the island this season. Five years after it took over the island in October 2013, the Marnaton (a merger of the English “marathon” and the Catalan and Castilian words for "swimming" and "sea") will see participants compete locally in two different categories.

Raid Formentera
When the three-part event takes place Wednesday to Saturday (May 26), it will see contenders going solo or joining teams as they cover distances between 6.5 and 17 kilometres. Teams, for their part, will face a combination of swimming and kayak paddling.

Given the choice of challenges will be based on weather conditions, athletes won't know which circuits have been selected for competition until briefing day. The feature shared by the various options on the table is immense natural beauty and, in some cases, extreme difficulty. Participants must be prepared for a trial which extends over a distance of 17 kilometres.

Difficulty depends on the particular modality chosen by a contender at registration. If efforts are split evenly between partners on a team, each will swim and row equal parts. Swimmers opting to face the challenge solo must be prepared to take on the entire length of it, with a kayak trailing behind, too. A total of ten solo swimmers and twenty pairs are expected to take the challenge.

Marnaton
Next in the queue, and dovetailing with the final day of competition in the Raid, is the second Marnaton Formentera. The Marnaton is composed of two circuits, one four and another eleven kilometres in length, which see athletes departing from the western shore of Illetes beach and returning from the east.

Setting out at 10.00am, participants in the 4k circuit will go as far as es Pas before heading back towards Illetes. The first contenders in the 11k challenge will begin at 9.20am (departures will take place place every ten minutes for 30 minutes thereafter) and circumscribe s'Espalmador island before making their way to the finish line. Roughly three hundred swimmers are expected to compete.

Formentera's spring of sport
Raid Formentera and the Marnaton are just two entries on a brimming sports calendar (the Ophiusa regatta, Far a Far footrace and Mitja Marató are others) that is aimed at showcasing Formentera as a low-season destination for travellers and fitness fans as well as promoting active lifestyles among islanders.