Joan Laporta uses one of Panayotou’s reflections in his speech in Tribuna Barcelona

09/06/2009

The feat of Alexandra Panayotou, who arrives at the Valencian Community today, in the fourth day of her great challenge of running 2010 kilometres in one month, has not  been unnoticed; not even for the president of the F.C. Barcelona Joan Laporta, who has used one of her wise reflections to vindicate the loyalty and the stamina values his club possesses.
 
In front to the people attending his lecture in the Tribuna Barcelona, the opinion forum of El PERIÓDICO de Catalunya newspaper, Laporta vindicated Barca’s virtues, what by these days he does not stop mentioning in all the public events he takes part in and, in order to reinforce his speech he used a sentence the Greek ultra marathon runner who is running to promote the European Athletics Championships Barcelona 2010 had said in one interview in the same newspaper: “Never, give up, do not give that great pleasure to those ones who are expecting it to happen. If you fight you may be defeated; but if you do not fight you have been already beaten.
 
The impact of Panayotou’s challenge has been immediate. The fans as well as the long distance runners and the media have succumbed to the dimensions of a unique experience that will be carried out by this well known woman who is Greek athlete, resident in Barcelona. She has already run more than 200 kilometres, the 10% of the challenge. Today she will arrive at Benicarló and on Thursday she will have her first great welcome in one of the most important finishing lines of the test event, the Valencia’s one.