Kontxako Bandera

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Kontxa

The Kontxako Bandera or "Flag of the Kontxa" is the oldest and most famous estropada race along the Bay of Biscay, held annualy in the Kontxa, the main bay of Donostia. It takes place on the first two weekends in September and regularly draws crowds of more than 100,000 people and around 20 rowing teams.

In Spanish it is called Bandera de La Concha, in Galician Bandeira da Cuncha and Drapeau de La Concha in French.

1 Background
2 Statistics
3 Winning teams
4 External links
5 References

[edit] Background

Main article: Estropadak

The 2005 winners of the bandera at the quay

Estropadak is a very popular form of rowing competition common all along the coast of the Northern coast of the Iberian Peninsula.

A crew is made up of thirteen oarsmen and the cox, who faces them at the stern. The boats are called traineru (trainera in Spanish, trainière in French) and are derived from 19th century fishing boats.

This is the most important competition in the Bay of Biscay and takes place the first two Sundays in September, with the best teams from all along the Northern coast competing against each other. It was first held in 1879 and has been held most years since with the main exception of the war years.

The teams must row three nautical miles to a buoy, turn around and return to the starting line. So instead of the normal four lengths, teams only do two lengths in this race.

The final always consists of two races between the eight finalists. To qualify, all teams bar one must take part in a race against the clock on the first weekend, the seven best of which go forward to the finals the following weekend. The eighth team is always from the host town and does not have to qualify. In the finals, the eight teams race in two groups of four across the same distance again.

For example, in the 2007 race there were 21 teams taking part:

Team	Time to buoy	Time to finish
Hondarribia	11:12	20:56
Urdaibai	11:15	20:58
Zarautz	11:15	21:00
Orio	11:04	21:02
Castro	11:18	21:09
Pedreña	11:15	21:09
Tirán	11:16	21:10
Pasai San Pedro	11:25	21:19
Zumaia	11:31	21:20
Laredo	11:16	21:26
Getaria	11:32	21:43
Pasai Donibane	11:40	21:50
Arkote	11:34	21:54
Isuntza	11:42	21:54
Mecos	11:43	21:55
Cabo da Cruz	11:43	21:56
Sestao	11:43	21:57
Ondarroa	11:56	22:08
Camargo	11:51	22:17
Hernani	12:46	23:44
Urki	12:48	23:49

Of these, the top seven went into to the final which Orio won with a time of 19:16.68.

[edit] Statistics

The most successful teams in the Kontxako Bandera are Orio (31 flags), Pasai San Pedro (15 flags), Donostia (14 flags) and Pasai Donibane and Hondarribia (10 flags each).
The fastest times were achieved by Castro Urdiales (18:59.94 in 2006) and El Astillero (19:05.02 in 2006 and 19:09.10 in 2005)