Sprinters is a transnational European project which is coordinated by the municipality of Cullera and financed by the European Union and Erasmus+. The transnational association is composed of institutions, managers of protected natural areas and sport organizations of different European countries. Spain, Italy, France, Bulgaria and Latvia.
The European program wants to promote sport in protected natural areas, because the practice of sport has become an integral value for the lives of millions of citizens and is an important aspect of the individual and collective quality of life. Sport is a fundamental right and it must be accessible to all of us, according to the aspirations and abilities of each person.
The main partners of the project are: the municipality of Ponza (Italy), the municipality of Mersrags (Latvia), the European Center of Innovation, Education, Science and Culture (Bulgaria), the Polisportiva Dilettantistica Ponza (Italy) Gipacor (France) and the municipality of Cullera (Spain). It is worth highlighting the participation of the Universidad de Valencia as scientific partner of the project.
The program has been successfully evaluated by the European Commission, which has granted the 80% of the total cost of the project 383.631,81€. It will last for two years.
The main objective that the project wants to achieve is to involve people to carry out physical activities in protected natural areas. Moreover, we want to reach two specific objectives:
1º The development of the sport management in natural protected areas. This will allow the constitution of a lasting system of spontaneous sports activities.
2º The promotion of the economic dimension of sport, due to the creation of new startups related to the field of sports and natural areas.
The European added value in the implementation of the project at community level will be considerable. Through the creation of an European network, Sprinters will allow the comparison of the institutions and sports associations in order to examine the influence of outdoor sports in protected natural areas and the creation of an inclusive sports policy.