The Arrasate City Council honored its best athletes and teams in an event held at the Kulturola. The ceremony, enlivened by Aratz Arenaza and Oier Aranegi, began with the presentation of the City Council's Recognition award and the Best Athlete award.
The Mondraitz Sports Club received the City Council's Recognition award for organizing the Arrasate-Udalatx race, which marks its tenth anniversary. The award acknowledged "the transition from a race born to fill a void in the town to becoming a benchmark in Euskal Herria".
Eneko Carrascal was named Best Athlete. He has won the Spanish indoor championship in the absolute category and was runner-up in the Spanish championship with Real Sociedad. Carrascal, who is currently in Sweden for work reasons, expressed his gratitude via video and also acknowledged other athletes such as the pelota player Ander Murua and the chess player Josu Tornay.
The awards for Best Team and the Citizen's Award were decided by public vote. The City Council received a total of 573 votes. The women of the Geurea Rugby Team were the winners in the team category, securing 45.5% of the votes after winning the Basque Women's League.
The final award of the afternoon, the Citizen's Award, went to sheep shearer Mikel Velasco, with 24.9% of the votes. Velasco competed with the Basque national team in the World Sheep Shearing Championship held in New Zealand. He was followed by basketball player Bingen Errasti (18.4%) and pelota player Ander Murua (16%).
“"Thank you to those who voted for me and also to those who voted for another athlete, it is a shame for me not to be able to be in Arrasate today, but I will return home soon."
