25 March

All the partners arrived in Reguengos de Monsaraz on Friday. The people in charge of Reguengos welcomed us and took us all together for dinner with typical Portuguese food. In this informal meeting they gave us a cultural, gastronomic and sporting explanation of the area.

 

26 March

After breakfast, at 8 o’clock in the morning, the members of the project visited the start of the 60 km race in the main square. During the morning, we visited local cultural sites.

After lunch, al 3 o’clock in the afernoon, the members of the project and all citizens who would like to go, We attended the conferences on sport and sustainability, the basis of the project.

The official meeting started in a municipal library at 15 h.

First, Reguengos de Monsaraz, Monica, who was in charge of the meeting, opened the meeting and introduced the people who were going to make the presentations. She also gave a presentation about the town, the sport, the mountain race, its sporting events and the relationship with sustainability.

Afterwards, the presentations were given by Jorge Bravo and Hugo Folgado, from the University of Évora, who presented Active Ageing and Social distance in inter-school playground with effects on children’s social and emotional competence and physical activity.

When they finished, the presentations were given by Vanghelis Vassilatos and Elias Demian, from the Athens University of Economics and Business, who presented European values and the links between sport, economy and development in the framework of the European Union’s strategy to face the crisis.

To finish the day, Josep Llorca, from Municipality of Pego, presented the Project Report and the Sustainable Development Goals achieved by our mountain races.

It was emphasized that communication is very important for the project.

More than 20 people participated in the seminar.

 

27 March

After breakfast, all the participants were transferred to the Monsaraz for the race. The Monsaraz Natur Trail was organized in two races, a 30 km race starting at 9 a.m. and a 16.1 km race starting at 9:30 a.m. We ran the 15 km race, it was very well organized, there were refreshments for the participants and at the end of the race they gave 2 medals for finishing the race.

For the race we were 12 participants of the project and there were 1.000 registered participants. The organization, the volunteers and the sustainability and green development actions during the sport event was excellent.

At the end of the race and the awards ceremony, we returned to the hotel to change and have lunch with all the partners.

After lunch, all the partners went sightseeing. We went to the Praia Fluvial of Monsaraz; we visited Xerez Megalithic Enclosure, which is a historical monument. The tour was guided by a Monsaraz tourism professional who explained the culture, the history of the town and the legends of the different historical monuments. The tour lasted approximately 2 hours.

At the end of the sightseeing day, the Greek partners left the city and the rest of us went to dinner together.

 

28 March

The rest of the partners departed from the city.