Nearly 200 schoolchildren from Almoradí and Orihuela will participate in the III Artichoke Olympics on March 1 at the Sadrián de Almroadí stadium, which combines various sports, music, skill and knowledge events related to the “Joya de la Huerta”.
From Almoradí, the schools taking part are Heredades, Pascual Andreu, Canales y Martínez, Manuel de Torres and Santa María de la Huerta, together with San Bartolomé de Orihuela, competing in what is actually the third edition of the Artichoke Olympics.
This competition, which is organised by the Vega Baja Artichoke Association in collaboration with the Almoradí Council, will be held on March 1 at the Sadrián de Almoradí stadium as part of the program of the National Artichoke Congress, Congreso Nacional de la Alcachofa.
The main novelty of this year is that there will be a greater participation of the students since the components of each team will be able to take turns in the nine tests of the competition.
In this sense, the president of the Vega Baja Artichoke Association, Antonio Ángel Hurtado, has pointed out that “the objective of this new measure is that more boys and girls can participate in this great festival that combines sport, music, camaraderie, skill and knowledge around the Joya de la Huerta”.
In the Olympics there will be a total of nine tests where the artichoke from Vega Baja is the main protagonist. In the field of sport, there will be a relay race where the witness will be the artichoke, a throwing test to see who throws it the farthest and another to basket the vegetables in the container in which farmers usually collect the artichokes.
On the other hand, the participants will also demonstrate their skill in peeling the artichokes as well as their creative and interpretation skills with the artichoke rap.
Knowledge of the crop will also be a determining factor in these Olympics because the participants will have to solve a mathematical problem related to the sector, guess the right price and pass a true or false test, among others.
For the president of the Vega Baja Artichoke Association, “these school Olympics are part of the line of work that we have been developing for years to bring the values of the garden closer to the students of Vega Baja and to make known the importance of the artichoke for the region”.
For his part, the Councillor for Agriculture and Tourism of Almoradí, José Antonio Latorre, has indicated that these Olympics are the starting point for the National Artichoke Congress whose central axis will take place on March 4 and 5.
“The little ones are an essential part of our programming and great protagonists of the Artichoke Congress since in addition to the artichoke Olympics both on Saturday, March 4, and Sunday, March 5, in the morning there will be children’s workshops by Agrodulce by Carmen and the CdT of Torrevieja”.
The Councillor for Education of Almoradí, Susana Miralles, has highlighted “the interest of all the schools in participating in these Olympics and the enthusiasm that the schoolchildren have for being part of this event in which camaraderie and fun reign around the star product of the region”.
Well, that’s our diary cleared.
