Everything is practically finalized for next Saturday’s celebration of the Seville-Betis Regatta, the event that once a year puts the world of rowing, a discipline with a deep-rooted tradition in the capital of Seville, in the focus of sporting news. The transfer to the river of passion football duality celebrates 58 editions and blew out the candles of its 64th anniversary on October 16. This Tuesday, and as established by its already consolidated protocol, the streets were drawn and the members of the eights with helmsmen in the absolute male and female categories were announced in an event staged in the La Cartuja Specialized High Performance Center (CEAR).
Sevilla-Betis is, as is known, the equivalent of the mythical Oxford-Cambridge in a Sevillian key. A regatta between boats of eight with helmsman in the river basin and over more than six kilometers that has the start marked near the San Jerónimo shortcut, at the height of the old Renfe ships, and the finish line, at the Muelle of Delights, next to the Aquarium and in front of the Nautical Club. Both crews cross the Alamillo Bridge, the Barqueta Bridge, the Pasarela, the Cachorro Bridge, the San Telmo Bridge and the Remedios Bridge, already in the last meters. It is an exhausting test that pushes the physical capacity of the rowers to the limit.
The event was attended by the president of the Andalusian Federation, Miguel Ángel Millán; the director of the Regatta, Sergio Paredes; the general secretary for Sports of the Junta de Andalucía, José María Arrabal; the Sports delegate of the Seville City Council, Silvia Pozo; as well as Pablo Blanco and Ricardo Díaz as representatives of Sevilla and Betis, respectively.
In its desire to achieve absolute parity in the regatta, Saturday’s complete program includes, in addition to the promotion events, up to six derbies, with the two most important being reserved for the end: The women’s absolute is scheduled to start at 12:00 and, one hour later, it will be the turn of the men’s absolute. As interesting preambles, the derbies of veterans and candidates in men’s and women’s categories will have been held before, all of them over 500 meters. David Galisteo will referee the absolute men’s event and Sonia Gil, the women’s.
For thirteen years now, the José Antonio Muñoz ‘Anchoa’ trophy, known colloquially as the ‘Crocodile’, belongs exclusively to the boat of the Betis, which has not stopped winning without interruption since 2011imposing a tyrannical dominance that the Sevilla team, despite the gradual renewal of its components in recent years, cannot find a way to settle.
The interest of the test lies precisely there: in knowing whether or not the contemporary green and white supremacy in the river will write a new chapter. The prognosis invites us to think so. Betis charges with the favorite sign, won hardand in 2024 with more reasons considering that it almost repeats the eight of 2023, with a veteran block; and that, unlike the last edition, it will row along the shore closest to Seville. The one that counts in his favor, as long as at that height he is in the lead, with the pronounced curve to the left of the missing Chapina plug. It has been a few years since the regatta has been decided there, but it continues to be one of its critical points.
Jaime Canalejo and Tomás Jurado pose next to the ‘crocodile’, the winners’ trophy in the Seville – Betis Regatta
Canalejo and Jury
Tomás Jurado, helmsman and captain of Betis, announced that the eight heliopolitan It will be made up of the following men: Javier García (brand), Marcelino García, Gonzalo García, Carlos González, Jaime Lara, Álvaro Gutiérrez, Emilio Fernández and Bruno Eder (bow). On the Sevilla side, the Olympian Jaime Canalejo was in charge of revealing the composition of the Nervion team, which has two important casualties: they miss the event this year on the mark, Jorge Flavio Knabeinjured, and Patrick Rojasthe proa, who in September was proclaimed world champion in sea rowing along with Amanda Gil. They will form, from stern to bow, Antonio José Díaz (mark), Juan Miguel Palomino, Luis Vilches, Jaime Canalejo, Alejandro Vera, Juan Kaulani, Julio Casielles and Rafael Gómez (bow), with Jacobo Castiñeira at the helm.
Tomás Jurado and Amanda Gil also announced the ‘lineups’ of the women’s boats. Sevilla will sail for Amanda Gil (mark), Rocío Laó, Nuria Barrios, Lidia Florido, Inmaculada Rius, Isabel Monedero, María Navarro and Inés Izquierdo (bow), with Hugo Díaz as helmsman. Betis will row with Paola Alonso de Caso (mark), Teresa Sánchez-Lanuza, Ana Navarro, Laura Montes, Estela Díaz, Lucía Ruiz, Carmen Civera and María Jesús Gómez (bow), helmed by Fernando Cano. The green and white ones, who will have the notable absences of the Olympic Esperanza Márquez and the international Olivia del Castillohave won the last six editions and rule the overall record by 19-15.
By the way, an unexpected factor that is conditioning the boats’ training in recent days, to the point of interrupting them, is the notorious presence of algae on the regatta courseespecially in the CEAR area, probably due to the recent intense rains combined with the absence of competitions on the river surface in recent weeks.
The Seville-Betis Regatta will be an enviable letter of presentation that will prologue the annual gala of the International Rowing Federation, World Rowingwhich will precisely be held next Saturday night in the capital of Seville. With one of the editions of the 2026 World Cup already awarded to be held in the river basin, Seville’s interest is to host the World Cup of the specialty in 2027. The Seville-Betis Regatta can be followed live on Teledeporte and RTVE Play, as well as on Canal Sur TV through ATV and CanalSurMás, and also on the World Rowing platforms.
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