Two divisions of the Formentera Council, the Office of Sport and the Office of Infrastructure, are together announcing the start of an effort to build Formentera's centre for esports nàutics, or “nautical sports”.

Designed to meet the diverse of needs of local companies in the nautical sector, the facilities will enfold a municipal sailing school as well as a space equipped for administrative and informational services and an area dedicated to education and training.

The new Centre d'Esports Nàutics is the Council's first attempt to connect islanders directly with the sea. Sports secretary Jordi Vidal put the effort in context by explaining that “whether it's about going in for a closer look, education or just having a good time, engaging with the ocean is a vital part to islanders' identity”.  He framed the longstanding effort as aimed at “promoting water sports and respect for this fabulous sea we've got around us”.

A venue for nautical sports has long been a subject of interest for island residents. Now, set for completion in six months' time, construction of the €1m centre stems from a partnership between Demarcació de Costes, the administration of the regional environment ministry's ses Salines reserve and the port authorities of the Balearic Islands. Local infrastructure and mobility secretary Rafael González described the current phase as “the dawn of an initiative many years in the making”and said collaboration from an array of entities was “crucial to securing the best possible site: s'Estany des Peix”.

Funding from the Formentera Council's Office of Sport to the tune of €140,000 means the eight clubs that applied to receive help for fitness initiatives will have 90% of their costs covered.

Promoting fitness
Of the total amount, €74,000 will subsidise fitness promotion efforts that took place in 2017 at the hands of Club Dojo, SD Formentera, Club Pàdel Illa de Formentera, Club Tennis Illa de Formentera, Racing de Formentera, Grup Esportiu Espalmador, Club Bàsquet Formentera and Club de Natació Formentera.

Sports councillor Jordi Vidal called the funding “extremely important” for the clubs, and noted the administration had advanced half of the promised money to spare the clubs from shouldering the burden of fronting it themselves.

Travel costs
Approval was also given for €66,000 in handouts to cover clubs' travel costs when participating in competitions.

The financing comes in addition to the €20,000 the Council has allotted for sports federations and €10,000 it gave to three under-18 athletes in collaboration with the federation for sport in the Balearics, or FEB. Separately, the Council has also offered €18,000 in sponsorship deals to various high-level sports players.

The Formentera Council's Office of Sport has honoured winners of the island's third Concurs de Fotografia Esportiva, or Sports Photography Contest. They are Oskar Matxin, whose “Som de 2a B” earned the photographer a €300 prize; Alessandro Ramazzotti, who won €200 for “Furia” and Paula Torrano, awarded €100 in recognition of “Rodando en Es Pujols”. The winning prints will be displayed at Antoni Blanc fitness centre.

Congratulating the winners, sport secretary Jordi Vidal pointed out that judges had “saluted the moment, feeling and sportsmanlike values embodied in the photo that won first prize, the landscape captured in the second, and the technical quality of the third”.

Hence, as today begins the sport photo contest's fourth edition, interested participants are invited to submit pictures to fotografiaesportiva@conselldeformentera.cat through next November. Prints sent to the Citizen's Information Office, or OAC, by certified mail will also be accepted.

Photos must be related to sport, any facet of a sport conducted here locally, or Formentera athletes competing or training elsewhere. Once again, cash prizes will be set at €300, €200 and €100, respectively. New this year, one €100 prize will also be awarded for “best sports selfie”.

Conditions
Each photographer can submit no more than three prints, which must be previously unpublished and may not have been entered in other contests. The image can be in colour or black and white. Physical submissions must be unframed, paper prints, 20cm wide and 40cm long, in square, digital, classic or panorama format. For online submissions, JPG files which should be no bigger than 8Mb, photographers can modify tone, saturation, brightness, contrast, levels and curves only.

Submitting photos
Paper submissions will be accepted by the Oficina d'Atenció Ciudadana (OAC), carrer de Ramon Llull, nº6 until November 25, 2018. A blank envelope with the photographer's full name, address, e-mail address and telephone number should also be included.

Photos submitted by certified mail delivered to the Formentera Council at plaça de la Constitució, 1, Sant Francesc Xavier, Formentera, must include an avatar with which to identify the photographer.

Online
Online submissions should be sent to  fotografiaesportiva@conselldeformentera.cat and include the following: Full name. E-mail address. Telephone number. Town of residence.

Each photo must include a title and a note about where and when it was taken. A panel of individuals with recognised experience in the visual arts will select the winning photos, which will be announced in early December.

The Formentera Council's Office of Sport reports that at 12 noon today, a drawing was held to determine eligible runners for Formentera's half marathon and 8K runs. The drawing was conducted in the presence of notary public Javier González Granado.

According to secretary of sport Jordi Vidal, the 2017 Mitja Marató (“Half Marathon”) on Saturday, May 12, is special because it marks the event's tenth year. “The race's growing popularity is the reason we need drawings like this one,” said Vidal, who called it “the fairest way we've found to ensure anyone and everyone keen to take part can do just that”.

Room for 3,000
A total of 3,323 runners signed up to fill 2,000 spots in the Mitja Marató; another 1,820 vied for the chance to run the 8K course, for which capacity was limited to 1,000. A computer programme generated random figures for each competition, based on those numbers, an order was established by which the 3,000 spots were filled.

For the Mitja Marató the programme summoned the number 164, so everyone from the 164th person to sign up to the 2,163rd got a spot. The figure generated for the 8K circuit was 1,600, meaning the chosen athletes were those whose registration order came between 1,600 and 1820, or 1 and 779.

Runners have from December 14 to January 8 to confirm attendance. After January 8, new winners will be chosen from among the next names on the list. For more information, visit the Mitja Marató website.