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As part of the Festa do Marisco, O Grove will present four new Centolas de Ouro, the highest honour awarded by the Town Council, which recognises individuals and organisations that act as excellent ambassadors for the town. On this occasion, the Local Tourism Board has decided to honour two individuals and two organisations: the sportsman Antonio Devesa Pérez “Tolín”, the former patron of the O Grove Fishermen’s Guild, Lola Gondar, the establishment El Moderno, and ForoAcui. Four very different careers which the CLI has chosen to recognise after considering various nominations.

Antonio Devesa “Tolín” is a veteran athlete from the Breogán club with a long-standing involvement in water sports. Born in 1956, he has spent his sporting career in rowing, canoeing and dragon boat racing, with much of his career linked to the rowing teams of the Clube de Remo Mecos.

At the age of seventy, he remains active. He combines rowing with C.R. Virxe da Guía – with whom he won the Galician Veterans’ Rowing League title and the Spanish Veterans’ Rowing Championship this year – with his participation in the Centolas dragon boat team. In this discipline, he has won six Spanish championship titles and a bronze medal, as well as finishing the season as runner-up in the National Dragon Boat League.

El Moderno will also be honoured, as this year marks its centenary. The family-run takeaway, situated on Calle Castelao, was founded in 1926 by the Prol Domínguez family. The premises initially offered rooms to accommodate tourists and later added a restaurant serving home-cooked food for its customers.

Four generations later, sisters Mari and María José Piñeiro decided to transform part of the old restaurant into a takeaway, which still uses many of their ancestors’ recipes today.

The former president of the O Grove Fishermen’s Guild, Lola Gondar, is another of the award winners. A recipient of the Meca Award, she was in charge of the association of shore-based shellfish gatherers for twenty years and led the guild for several terms, playing a very significant role.

ForoAcui rounds off the list of honourees. Regarded as a veritable institution in Galicia, it was established in 1998 under the name ‘Forum on Marine Resources and Aquaculture of the Galician Rías’, with the aim of becoming a leading platform for communicating the current situation and future prospects of fishing, shellfish gathering and aquaculture in Galicia.

Almost three decades later, the forum has established itself as a key meeting point for analysing the current and future challenges facing the maritime sector. Held annually as part of the Festa do Marisco, it brings together hundreds of scientists and researchers who use this event to share their projects. This year’s event will take place on 1 and 2 October in the municipal auditorium.

The presentation of the four Centolas de Ouro awards will take place at a gala to be held on Friday 9 October at 8.00 pm in the municipal auditorium.