The best clubs in Spain meet at the European DNA Meeting

This Saturday, January 13, the renovated Zaragoza Sports Palace will host the fourth edition of European DNA Club Meeting, an innovative mixed team competition format that has established itself on the national and continental calendar in recent years. This time, in addition to the absolute category, the promotion category was divided, giving rise to an under-20 championship and another (which inherits the name ‘promotion’) under 18 and under-16.

Within European DNA Meeting in Zaragoza, opening its headquarters after its first three editions at the Palau Velòdrom Lluis Puig in Valencia, six clubs per category will compete. Absolutely, the Beaches of Facsa-Castellón defending a title won in three years of the competition’s history, and will face the Unicaja Jaén Interior Paradisein Alcampo Scorpio 71in CAPEXin Alcorcón Athletics and in Super Amara BAT.

Naa sub20 categoryPlayas are the current champions, although FC Barcelona, ​​​​​​Trops-Cueva de Nerja, Atletismo Alcorcón, Super Amara BAT and Alcampo Scorpio 71 will try to avoid a third consecutive title.

As for sub18 and sub16Playas, Nerja and Scorpio itself, in addition to UCAM-Cartagena, Atletismo Albacete and CA Murcia PDS Group, will seek to break the record.

The three competitions will last approximately two hours: from 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm for promotion, from 4:15 pm to 6:15 pm for sub-20 and from 6:30 pm to 8: 30 pm for the absolute. The European DNA Club Meeting It will be broadcast in full and for free on LaLiga+.

Mixed format

One of the characteristics of the DNA format is that it a mixed competition, with the same number of males and females and the same number of male and female trials. A sum of 14 athletes per clubseven women and seven men, will compete in eight different events with the collective goal greater than the individual.

The essence of DNA lies in permanent competitiveness, because every place in every event is important to achieve an advantage in time for the final relay. There are no individual champions in DNAbut a single winning club decided in The Chase, the final mixed relay of 3 laps-2 laps-1 lap-4 laps.

At the European DNA Meeting of Clubs, eight trials: six individual and two mixed relays. In the absolute category, the women’s events are 60 m, length and weight; and the men’s, 400 m, 60 m hurdles and high. The mixed relays will be 4×2 laps (with free order) and the aforementioned 3 laps-2 laps-1 lap-4 laps, known as The Chase (order woman-man-woman-man).

In the sub20, men will do 400 m, height and length, and women 60 m, 60 m hurdles and weight. In the promotion, boys will compete in 60 m (U16), 400 m (U18) and height (U16), and girls in 60 m hurdles (U18), length (U16) and weight (U18). The relays are in the same order as in the absolute category.

The races will be held in the traditional formatas tournaments change their format to make DNA a more exciting competition: athletes will face each other two semi-finals two attempts and a ‘Final Four’ also two attempts where no athlete can stop anything and has to find his best version.

To make matters worse, high jumps will not have predetermined heights, but each athlete will indicate to the judge the height they wish to attempt, without knowing what their rival has proposed. In the second attempt, each athlete again indicates the height they wish to attempt, knowing what their rivals beat in the first attempt. If an athlete clears the bar on the first attempt, they must attempt a higher height on the second attempt. In the first seven tests, the final places are translated into points, from 12 to 2.

When the seven tests are over, it’s time to The hunt. The points earned previously will establish a club classification from 1st to 6th, where the difference in points between each team will be converted into time gaps between them all. Each point with respect to the rival will increase your starting advantage in The Chase by 0.33 seconds. Thus begins a mixed relay of 3 laps-2 laps-1 lap-4 laps with the winning team taking the final victory of the European DNA Club Meeting.

Major athletes

Among those registered in the absolute category, above all the athletes from Facsa-Playas de Castellón stand out: they will have absolute internationals of the caliber of Paula Sevilla, Belén Toimil, Esther Navero, Ona Rossell, Iñaki Cañal, Manuel Guijarro and Alexis Sastre. Other notable entries are internationals in the lower category Paula Calero (Alcorcón Athletics), Pablo Drees (Unicaja Jaén Paraíso Interior), Ruben Egea (Alcampo Scorpio 71), Laura Martinez (Alcorcón Athletics), Andrew Boix (Facsa-Castellón beaches), Rocío Arroyo (Unicaja Jaén Paraíso Interior), David Barroso (CAPEX) or Elian Numa Lopez (Facsa-Playas de Castellón), and fully as an Olympic semi-finalist Natalia Romero (Unicaja Jaén Paraíso Interior).

In the under-20 and promotion categories, we will see many champions of Spain under 16, under 18 and under 20, as well as internationals in their respective age groups, among the participants.