At the Naval Academy in Marín (Pontevedra), future Spanish Navy officers receive comprehensive training in science, technology, values, and naval leadership. Naturally, sports are also part of this training process.
Among other facilities, this center has an athletics track that has used Mondo sports surfaces since 2003, replaced with Sportflex Super X 720.
The Marín athletics track is under the jurisdiction of the Ferrol Navy Department. 325 meters long, it has six lanes, a starting line, a height zone in the crescent closest to the starting line, a diagonal lane for the javelin throw, and three lanes for the long jump and triple jump, parallel and within the main straight. The new Sportflex Super X 720 sports flooring is World Athletics Class I certified and guarantees excellent technical performance.
Mondo also took care of the markings of the new surface, which, with the renovation, changed color from red to blue.
The athletics track at the Naval Academy in Marín was equipped with nearly 3,700 square meters of Sportflex Super X 720 K39 prefabricated flooring. This system features a uniform and consistent thickness of 13.5 millimeters. The top layer is composed of the classic Mondo directional rubber texture, which offers excellent grip. The underlayment features Air Cell technology; its hexagonal air cells ensure exceptional shock absorption, storing and returning energy through kinetic energy.
The Marín Naval Academy athletics track includes a sports field for which new Mondo rugby goals and protective equipment were supplied, along with the installation of their anchoring systems.
2017 marked the tercentenary of the founding of the Real Compañía de Aguilars (Royal Company of Midshipmen), founded in Cádiz and the forerunner of the current Escuela Naval Militar de Marín (Naval Military School of the Sea), where Navy officers are trained. Among the illustrious students who have passed through the Pontevedra center are both King Felipe VI and Princess Leonor, who entered last year to continue her military training after attending the General Military Academy of Zaragoza (Army). Her time in the Navy is about to conclude, and in September she will enter the General Air Force Academy of San Javier (Murcia).
But while the Marín Naval Academy is undoubtedly linked to the history of the Army, it also celebrates a unique anniversary in the history of Spanish athletics: its gym hosted what is considered the first indoor athletics competition held in Spain on November 27, 1959. The event is recounted by journalist Emilio Navaza, recipient of the Pierre de Coubertin Medal of Olympic Merit, on the blog Vida Atlética de Galicia: "Only midshipmen competed that day, but later, competitions with athletes from outside the school were scheduled." The origin of this event was almost anecdotal, as the then sports director of the Naval Academy, Rafael Berenguer, had the idea of using the gym to allow students to compete when bad weather prevented them from doing so on the outdoor athletics tracks, improvising a 130-meter track for this purpose. "The track was made of Petralit (chopped wood, with cement), so tennis shoes or shoes with rough soles were required," the story emphasizes. On that day, sprint, steeplechase and shot put events were held, to which other disciplines such as pole vault were later added.