Barcelona has a distinguished pedigree of hosting great sporting events. With the football World Cup in 1982, the Olympic Games in 1992 and the Champions League Final in 1999, the city is a well established host. Now, in 2010, the Catalan capital is preparing to stage the European Athletics Championships.

The European Athletics Championships will be held from July 26 to August 1. It is the first time the four-yearly event has been held in Spain and will take place in the Olympic Stadium. The stadium was originally built for the 1992 Olympic Games and is still an excellent stage for athletics. This is the first time the event has been staged in Spain. After this year, all the major athletics championships will have visited the country.

 

The Olympic Stadium can be found in Montjuic. This is where the track and field events will take place. For viewing the events here – ranging from the long jump to the hurdles – you will need a ticket.

 

You can purchase your tickets now, with prices for all six days starting from around €60. This, however, won’t entitle you to the very best seats. These cost €600 and will allow you the very best vantage point in the whole stadium. It is now even easier to collect your tickets. All you have to do is print out your online booking form to take to automated tellers around the arena.

 

If, however, you are a walking or running enthusiast, you can watch the marathon and walking events for free. These will take place throughout the city’s streets, which will be lined by thousands of people come the day of the events.

 

From the 50 or so European nations, around 1,500 athletes will come to Barcelona. These include some of the top sportspeople in the world, so there is a good chance that history could be made when they come together. The 100 metres is always a big draw for the crowds. The men’s and women’s races take place one day apart on July 27 and 28. If you aren’t planning to buy tickets for these days, however, don’t worry. There is always an exciting event taking place at another time, with a real chance of records being broken.

 

The organisers of the event hope that it can be used as a tool to get young people interested in sport. During the week of the championships there will also be many celebrations and parties. In fact, the Spanish Athletics Federation has promised a ‘big fiesta’ in the city. This should be good news for tourists, who are intending on coming to Barcelona at this time. Or, if you haven’t yet made up your mind on visiting the city, this should be enough to persuade you.

 

An actual City Festival will be taking place, involving some great entertainment. Music and dance performances will be on show in the city. Some will be free of charge, meaning that there is a chance to enjoy the Catalan culture without it hitting your wallet. Even if you’re not a big athletics fan, there will be something of interest for you.

 

The European Athletics Championships will be a real festival of sport and you are well advised to check it out. To find out more about all that will be going on, log-on to www.bcn2010.org. Here you can learn about all of the disciplines that will be contested and everything else that is happening. You can also find out information about the city, including where to find the best barcelona vacation rentals and guides to public transport

 

Barcelona will be awash with sports lovers this summer as the host of the European Athletics Championship. They will come to the city to see some of the world’s best athletes do battle. This is one event that you should not miss and, with tickets now on sale, you can be part of it all. With loads to see, and just as much to do, you’re guaranteed to have the experience of a lifetime

 

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This entry was posted on Monday, July 12th, 2010 at 11:53 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.