21.11.2007, 10:15
Portland Travel: 12,000 kilometres in 15 days

The Spanish CL team from Pamplona are on "Tour de Europe". Only victories can make travel easier for the players.

Portland Travel: 12,000 kilometres in 15 days

These two weeks are be really hard for Portland San Antonio. As a result of a tough schedule in the Spanish Asobal and Champions League, Portland will play four away games within fifteen days. The team have to take four journeys across Spain and Europe and they will travel 12,000 kilometres in total.

The path of the travellers: Odense (Denmark), Almeria (Spain), Algeciras (Spain) and Presov (Slovakia). The fourteen flights to take around Europe will be the price to reach the first place in the CL group and keep running for the Asobal title against Ciudad Real.

Last Wednesday, Portland played in Denmark against GOG Gudme. The travel from Pamplona to Odense was the first tract in this “airport marathon”. The valuable draw made the flight back easier, but the Odyssey continued from Odense to Almeria without even a stop in Pamplona.

Portland crossed Europe and finally Spain to reach Almeria. The team won the game, so they could travel once again in better mood. But it was only half of the tour. Last Sunday the team returned to Pamplona to have a rest on Monday. The players spent only one day in Pamplona and met again at the airport on Tuesday.

The next journey was from Pamplona to Algeciras, a Spanish city close to Africa and it took 1,100 kilometres more to play an Asobal match. However, this was not the last tract of the road. That will be a flight from Algeciras to Presov (Slovakia) with a change in Prague. Next Sunday, the team will return to Pamplona after 8 airports and almost 12,000 kilometres. These two weeks also show why a great club needs many players for such demanding competitions…

TEXT: Fernando Urra Goñi