Portobelo celebrates 404th anniversary

by Earl Patrick Watson

The coastal town of Portobelo celebrated its 404th anniversary with a triathlon sports event and the traditional Congo festivities. Portobelo, whose harbor was discovered by Christopher Columbus in 1502, is located northeast of the city of Colon. The small seaport town was later founded by Don Francisco Valverde y Mercado on March 20, 1597.

The triathlon event, the fourth of its kind held in the area, began with a 1600-meter roundtrip swim from la Guaira to Isla Grande, followed by a 40 kilometer cycle race then an 11-kilometer foot race ending in Portobelo. Along with the Panamanian athletes were representatives from Costa Rica, Venezuela, Canada, and the United States. The event had two aspects: single participant and team competitions, the latter with members committed to a single phase of the event. This year's activity brought out two female athletes, one from the US and the other from Canada each winning top prizes for their record participation. The first prize in the male category went to an American, with both the second and third prizes going to Costa Ricans; a Canadian occupied the number four spot, while the fifth-place participant was the Venezuelan who held the top spot in the last event. The total number of participants was close to 300 as spectators gathered from most of the neighboring towns, Colon city and other parts of the country.

After the award ceremony calypso singers and the visiting Graduates Steel Band from Trinidad entertained the crowd. A ballet dance group from Colon with members between the ages of 15 and 40 also delighted the crowd with local folklore dance routines of various regions and dances from Costa Rica, Cartagena and Ohio.

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