Leiria 2023
European Throwing Cup / 09-10 March 2024
Welcome Message from the President of European Athletics
I am very pleased to welcome everyone to the 24th edition of the European Throwing Cup which, once again, will be staged here in Leiria.
This is the third consecutive year that the European Throwing Cup has taken place in the wonderful city and the event was also staged here in 2014, 2015 and 2018.
As I have said in previous welcome messages, this fact alone shows a fantastic level of enthusiasm and commitment here for our great sport.
Once again, I would like to thank everyone involved for their unstinting support in making the Cup such an important event on the European Athletics calendar.
My appreciation of what the Local Organising Committee in Leiria has done has continued to grow year-by-year and I will be sad to say goodbye – at least temporarily – to this city and the people who have made us so welcome here at the conclusion of this year’s Cup.
This competition comes less than seven months after the World Athletics Championships Budapest 23 where European athletes produced some outstanding performances in the throws.
European athletes won medals in all four of the men’s throwing events in the Hungarian capital last summer and nearly all those men competed in either one or both of the most immediate past editions of the European Throwing Cup staged in Leiria in 2022 and 2023.
At the time of writing, I don’t know who will be in action in Leiria this year, but I would not be surprised if several of those World Athletics Championships medallists once again come to the Cup.
Just like last year when the Cup was an important part of many athletes’ preparations for the World Athletics Championships, and many other important competitions in 2023, this year’s Cup will be an important step on the road to the two big important events of the coming summer season: the Roma 2024 European Athletics Championships and then the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
I would like to take this opportunity to once again offer my sincere thanks to the Federação Portuguesa de Atletismo – the Portuguese athletics federation – and the local authorities in Leiria for their continuing hospitality and commitment to both our sport and to European Athletics.
It is always a joy, as we have done on many occasions, to return to this country and this city.
European Athletics are also very grateful to all the officials and volunteers with the Local Organising Committee for all their hard work and commitment, and I wish everyone an enjoyable and successful weekend.
Dobromir Karamarinov
European Athletics President
President of the Local Organising Committee
Leiria welcomes you!After hosting numerous European Athletics events, including the European Champions Clubs Cup - both in the U20 age group and at senior level - as well as the European Throwing Cup on four different occasions, we are now getting ready to host yet another international event in Leiria next year.
As a long serving Director of Juventude Vidigalense, I am delighted to say that our club is proud and honoured to welcome some of the best European throwers to compete in the European Throwing Cup 2024.
On behalf of everyone in our athletics club, I extend our gratitude, not only to our institutional partners - the Municipality of Leiria, the Portuguese Athletics Federation and ADAL - but also to our supporters, sponsors and volunteers without whom this event would not be possible.
We can assure you that we will do everything within our reach to make the competition a successful one for all the athletes and teams involved, and aim to ensure this event presents itself as an opportunity to further promote athletics and the true Olympic spirit it encompasses.
To all the athletes and teams competing here next March... We wish you all the very best, and a wonderful stay in Leiria.
Paulo Vieira
President of the Local Organising Committee
Venues
Leiria
Leiria was originated at the hill of its castle, having its original settlement within its walls, and later growing down to the banks of the Lis river. Today this is a modern city, with a rehabilitated public space, which possesses a very characteristic way of urban living, both during the day or at night. At the city’s historical centre, hundreds of people of all ages gather to socialize, this being a privileged stage to play, talk, listen to music or dance.
The built patrimony has the castle as its ex-libris and also integrates a great number of churches and Art Nouveau buildings.
Leiria has a very rich landscape and environmental patrimony, with unique natural beauty, such as the Leiria Pine Tree Forest, the Lapedo Valley, a place of worldwide archaeological importance since the discovery of the Lapedo Child burial site, the Ervedeira Lagoon, the Pedrógão Beach and the Monte Real Spa. Another great richness of Leiria is its gastronomy, dominated by the scents and flavours of the sea that contrast with those typical of the mountains, which can be appreciated at its countrywide known restaurants.
Visiting Leiria is taking a tour around a fascinating city, full of treasures which remember historical people and places, with a landscape dominated by the hill of the castle. Visiting Leiria is to appreciate a city geometry characterized by the course from the hill of the castle to the Lis river banks, by its squares and streets from the 14th Century, where the past and present coexist.
One can end the day trying the delicacies of the wellknown restaurants of Marrazes and making the most of the different places that create the city’s vibrant nightlife.
During your stay in Leiria, don’t miss the opportunity to enjoy the city’s cultural program provided, among others, by the Bank of Portugal’s building art gallery and by the José Lúcio da Silva and Miguel Franco theatres.
Around the municipality of Leiria there are many other places worth a visit, given the touristic attractions they hold, such as the monasteries of Batalha and Alcobaça, both of them elected by UNESCO as World Heritage sites, the beaches of S. Pedro de Moel, Vieira de Leiria and Nazaré, the village of Óbidos and the Sanctuary of Fátima, among others.
