It’s just after six in the afternoon, but the passing of the days can already be seen in the sunset on the horizon. A beautiful sunset, which is reflected sharply in the water of the Pisuerga River as it passes through Valladolid, surrenders before a group of women who leave the Narciso Suárez Canoe Center determined.
They are all dressed in a purple t-shirt, and have a dragon drawn on their backs. Exactly the same as the one they carry with their hands. A large head and a golden tail decorate the ends of the two canoes that are already heading towards the dock.. They fall slowly on the water.
Two of the women take the boats to the starting positions while the rest grab their paddles and get organized. The silence that fills the area accompanies a ritual that is repeated every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. They take a position. Not all of them row, some direct the rhythm of the boat by beating the drum. “Today Mercedes does not take a shovel. It has just given the points”.
However, their goal is the same: to row against breast cancer.
The Vallkirias of Pisuerga are an example of improvement. In the photo they help each other to take the boat to the river. Photography taken with the Leica Q3.
Their ages and circumstances are different but, In the Vallkirias del Pisuerga, everyone speaks the same language. They are a total of 47 women those that make up this association in which the only requirement is, unfortunately, suffer or have suffered from this difficult disease. But together they are stronger, and they demonstrate this in every training session and every competition. Because Vallkirias is not just any association.
BCS canoeing (Breast Cancer Survivor) is their modality, and they have already become the queens of the Dragon Boat. With quite a track record behind him, They exercise to cope with the effects or consequences that the cancer has left on them.but they do not hesitate to say that this is also a game, and what they want “is to win.”
“Vallkirias got me out of the hole”
Nachi García (64 years old) was diagnosed in 2016. “The 23F… Take it now!” he exclaims without losing his smile. A smile that I didn’t have a few years ago, “because cancer makes you afraid.” He had to undergo surgery and, apparently, everything went well. But in 2020, combined with the pandemic, had a recurrence (reappearance of cancer cells).
“I had to have a bilateral mastectomy. In addition, I had many problems, it became infected, I had to go to Madrid for treatment because I had surgery there… I had a really bad time“she says. After the operation, Nachi had a lot of contracture. She regularly went to the physiotherapist to relieve the pain and, in one of the sessions, he recommended a book containing a series of exercises to do after such an intervention.
Nachi García remembers the illness as a time when “it was really bad.” Today she poses in front of the EL ESPAÑOL camera with more strength than ever, relying on her colleagues and friends, the Vallkirias. Photography taken with Leica Q3.
Valladolid
Nachi followed it to the letter, and among the multitude of options found in the pages of that book, the Dragon Boat. “A light bulb went on for me. I thought I wanted to start practicing this type of canoeing.but I knew that in Castilla y León there was nothing like that. So I decided to start a small project.”
And said and done. Nachi gathered four acquaintances who she knew shared a diagnosis with her and talked to them about her idea. They all thought it was good, and they got to work. A small group of women ended up getting together who at first had “a lot of doubts, because it’s something that you don’t know if it’s going to be able to succeed.”.
“At first it was quite difficult,” Nachi confesses. “I looked for many clubs to welcome us. First, a club called ‘El Cisne’ welcomed us. That was where we started and where I officially created the association.” It was February 2022 and Vallkirias were, then, 10 women who did not even have a boatbut very excited.
“We went out in a small Canadian canoe that didn’t have benches or anything. They put Styrofoam blocks on us and that’s how we went out, with giant wooden paddles,” he explains. Nachi was lucky to have the incessant help of her husband, José Luis Bentabolan architect from Valladolid who became the main sponsor of the association.
Jose Luis, Nachi’s husband and main sponsor of the Vallkirias and Narciso, coach of these warriors at the helm of the two boats during training on the Pisuerga River. Photography taken with Leica Q3.
Valladolid
“Thanks to their efforts to find more sponsors, we managed to buy the first boat. Now the problem was where to store it”. He laughs when he remembers it. They spent many afternoons exploring the banks of the Pisuerga in search of a place, but there was no luck. “Finally, the Municipal Sports Foundation found the place where we are now, the Narciso Suárez.”
Word of mouth did its thing, and word spread throughout the city. They already had their own canoe, paddles adapted to each one, a place to practice and a team with almost double the number of participants than those who started. They began filming and, rowing and rowing, In just six days they were competing.
“I will never forget it. On September 8 there was a competition. We had only trained six afternoons, and it turns out that we were a finalist. What a whirlwind!” And the rest is history. But to achieve such a feat, not only is a good crew necessary, it is essential to have a good helmsman. And in this case they have a luxury one. Its coach is, nothing more and nothing less, Narciso Suárez, the Olympic medalist from Valladolid who gives its name to the pavilion..
In the image and likeness of their leader, they currently hold the title of Spanish champions in the VIII Dragon Boat Championship. They made a double podium, taking gold and silver in the 500 and 200 meter events.. But for Nachi, this is secondary. “For me the important thing is that I have managed to free myself. There is a phase that we all go through when we are suffering, and that is that You think you’re not going to lift your head. Fear shrinks you, makes you cower. It doesn’t let you move forward, and you only have negative thoughts. But I managed to get out of the hole. Now we are warriors of Vallkirias, and we are going to go all out“.
A “lifesaver”
In front of the mirror an abyss
A current that turns the rudder
The road is dyed black
But far away you hear a drum
Tener miedo to run aground, to let go of the shovel to be wrecked
Row without knowing the direction
Look to one side, look to the other
Feel the thunder, the earthquake
And far away you hear a drum
The Vallkirias collect the boats after training. “Climbing the boats is harder than the training itself.” Photography taken with Leica Q3.
Valladolid
Agatha of Pisa (61 years old) She was one of the first to join the association. She was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2007, when she was only 44 years old.. “When they tell you, you are shocked. You think ‘it’s cancer’, which is a very strong word. It’s very hard. At first the first thing that comes to mind is that your hair is going to fall out, but when you go As you advance in the process you realize that in the end that is the least of it,” he says.
He spent 10 years in treatment. “They gave me chemo, radio… everything.” He had to undergo surgery, where an upper quarter of his chest was removed. “But the worst part of the process, without a doubt, is the chemo. Chemo is deadly. They are cumulative, you don’t even notice the first one, but when you’ve had 35 sessions you can’t handle it with your soul. You are really exhausted,” she confesses. Now, she can say that she is ‘clean’, and that she no longer follows any type of treatment. “The only thing I follow is coming here.”
Elena Enciso (43 years old) joined Vallkirias in early 2023. He has been in the association for almost two years, but He was diagnosed with the disease more than five years ago.in June 2019. “They had to give me chemo, they operated on me, they removed my left breast and then also radium. Now I continue with hormonal treatment and check-ups every six months“.
Merche González (64 years old) She is the newest of the group. It’s only been two months, but they gave him the sad news in 2021. “At first I didn’t believe it. I didn’t imagine that it was going to fall on me, so suddenly, because I didn’t have any symptoms. But at the end In the end you assume it, you have no other choice. You try to get ahead and have other perspectives on life“. She had a radical mastectomy and had to undergo chemo and radiotherapy sessions. Now, He goes to the oncologist every six months and follows a treatment of pills which will have to be maintained for the next 10 years.
In the end everyone collects and cleans the boats. Today the training was longer than other days. Photography taken with Leica Q3.
Valladolid
Despite the different nature of each story, they all agree that, each in its own way, Vallkirias has been his particular “lifesaver”. In this association they found women who understood them, who did not judge them and “to whom there is no need to give explanations, because they know what it is like to not want to talk about the subject.” When they get into their boat, their head stops pounding for a moment, and the only thing they hear is the soft splash of the oar entering the water. “For many, silence is what heals us”.
Change the strength of the waves
They no longer feel alone on the journey
They arrive with the shovel, always to the rhythm of the drum
The Vallkirias row being one heart
Now, the Vallkirias never feel alone anymore. They have each other, but also a city that supports them and has dedicated itself to them. So much so that this year he made them proclaimers of the Festivities of the Virgin of San Lorenzo. They even have their own anthem, VALLKIRIAScomposed of a local music group, ‘Las Bulsara’, formed by Irene Tamayo and Andrea Suárez, daughter of Narciso himself.
Vallkirias, Pisuerga, Let’s go!
Vallkirias right now It is made up of 47 women, aged between 33 and 67 years old.. They already feel overwhelmed but, even so, they have more than 30 people on waiting list. “We are trying to manage the issue so that any woman who wants can join. This is a municipal service and there is room for everyone. Both for those who want to compete, and for those who just want to exercise,” explains Nachi.
But that will be, at least, from the beginning of November. Now they are regaining their strength after competing in their last competition, which took place on October 5 in Seville. Even so, They are already preparing to continue training, because the Pisuerga has in its landscape the Vallkirias canoes throughout the year.
to the cry of Vallkirias, Pisuerga, Let’s go! This group of women never rests. Their latest problems with the Canoeing Federation, which unilaterally agreed that the BCS category would not count and would fall within the disability group, have made them feel even stronger. They compete in the senior and veteran categories, against girls “in their twenties” that, although they catch them with enthusiasm, they can never defeat them.
“We won almost everythingand against girls who could be our granddaughters. We are competing in three categories at the same time, but we want to show the Federation that we can also compete. Because we have or have had an illness, but That doesn’t make us disabled. What we are is survivors!“. And, as Nachi subscribes, they have demonstrated it.
