New arrival

Katie is the newest member of Cara. According to the happy mum, she´s got a little fat face, rosy skin, mop of dark hair and blue eyes.

Katie is the first daughter of Iñaki Arostegi (Getxo) and Clara Donohue (Galway), residents of Getxo. Congratulations, we wish you all the very best.

Snapshots in Leioa

Here we are in Leioa after eating at Solaetxe. Click on the photo for a large view.

Meal in Solaetxe Restaurant

Today we have had a meeting and a meal in Leioa. The restaurant Solaetxe is near the Irish School of Leioa. With the flags of Basque Country-Navarre and Ireland 14 people of Cara have been together talking about Ireland, Aer Lingus, the etimology of names, etc. Good weather and some photos taken by Gorka. The meal, in my opinion, was excellent. Thanks to Celtic Gods, 14 people have been together today in Solaetxe tasting Basque food and drinks with good wine, sorbet and a lot of water because of the hot weather we've had. Thanks to Rocco, Mary, Clara, Teresa, Eunate, Urtzi, Erramun, Cormack, David, Manu, Brian, Macrae Iñaki and Gorka for being together in Leioa.

Erauskin & Uriarte-Amantegi, winners of the First Basque One Wall Handball Open in Durango

It was the day of the debutants. Players without previous experience in the handball game won the I National One Wall Open, organised for the first time by the National Federation of Basque Pelota, in order to select the team that will compete in the XII Handball World Championships, in Edmonton (Canada), and in the coming IV Basque Country-Ireland pelota-handball challenge, to be played in june in Segura (Gipuzkoa).

In the doubles competition, Roberto URIARTE and Egoitz AMANTEGI beated in the final Garikoitz ERROIZENEA and Jon ZABALA (3-15 / 15-13 / 5-0)

In the singles tournament, Ibai ERAUSKIN (who played in the doubles with his brother Aitor, but was eliminated in the preliminary phase), defeated Iker ETXEBARRIA (11- 7 / 11-3), a more experienced rival.

The challenge concentrated a nice bunch of some of the top basque amateur players, as A. BENGOETXEA, A. MARTIN, U. MARTIN, I. ERAUSKIN, A. ERAUSKIN, LANDA, HUIZI, G. ERROIZENEA, J. ZABALA, R. URIARTE, E. AMANTEGI, L. GANDIAGA, E. CEREZO, A. GOENAGA, amongst others.

Munster, the best rugby team of Europe

Munster has defeated Biarritz in the Final match of the European Heineken Cup. Basque players of Biarritz and the best Irish team of rugby have played a great match in Cardiff. The final score Biarritz 19 Munster 23. Therefore, Munster has been crowned European champions after winning the Heineken Cup for the first time.
Captain of the Basque team Thomas Lievremont said: “We certainly felt Munster were getting more and more tired as the game went on. We thought we might be able to force them into committing mistakes and then we could take advantage. But to be looking to win like that was too late... To be honest we lost the game because of early defensive mistakes that allowed them to score tries early on... We can be proud of reaching the final but we are very disappointed to have made those mistakes that cost us the win.”
Note: The photo above appeared here thanks to Getty Images.

One wall Handwall Open in the Basque Country

Day: May 20 (saturday)
Place: Ezkurdi Jai Alai (Durango)
Organization: Basque Pelota National Federation
Championship: First Basque One Wall Handball Open
Playing codes: Singles and doubles

Durango´s Ezkurdi Jai Alai pelota court will host saturday, 20 may, the first Basque One Wall Handball Open. This is the first time that an official championship of an irish handball game is played in the Basque Country. The tournament is ruled by the Basque Pelota National Federation, in order to select the players that will play with Basque National Team in the XII World Handball Championships, next august in Edmonton (Canada)

The tounament is going to be played both doubles and singles. Doubles would be played in the morning session. The individual championship is going to be played in the afternoon.

ONE WALL HANDBALL

Just a frontwall.
No tell board and sidewalls.

Frontwall: 4, 5 mtr. high
6 mtr. wide
Court: 10 mtr. long
6 mtr. wide

Irish students in Erandio

Geografy students from University College Cork will be in Biscay with us till next Monday. Yesterday they had the opportunity to be with the major of Erandio Mr. Mikel Arietaaraunabeña. Rocco Caira, consul of Ireland in Bilbao, and Gorka J. Palazio, chairman of Cara Cultural Association, were there as well. The Council of Erandio gave a gift to all the students and teachers (Fiona and Darius) and after finishing the ceremony within the Town Council House, everybody could take a beer and some pintxos thanks to Joseba Goikouria. Pretty good weather in Erandio and excellent people from the Southern territories of Cork, Tralee, Killerney... We hope you have a good time in the Basque Country and enjoy our land, sports, people, harbors and buildings... Here we have some shots taken yesterday in Erandio, the best city of the world according to experts in the field of sustainability.