Lisbon, January 15, 2016 – the II Relay Call for the VII edition of Quelfes Games started on 7th January. The Quelfes Games are an event directed at the 1st cycle of basic education in Portugal, where sport is addressed as a facilitator for learning ethical content and as a personal and social development engine.
The VII Quelfes Games will take place between 9 and 23 April 2016 in a number of sports facilities in the municipalities of Ayamonte, Faro, Loulé, Olhão, São Brás de Alportel, Tavira and Vila Real de Santo António.
An initiative that, in addition to promoting the Games, intends to be a reminder of Olympism as a philosophy of life based on education through sport, culture and the environment, while respecting the most basic universal ethical values.
In this Olympic year, some twenty Portuguese municipalities will host the Relay Call for the Games, visiting schools of the 1st cycle of basic education and involving local authorities and the various school communities on an epic journey, walking and cycling, almost 1,000 kilometres.
Ana Cabecinha, Olympic athlete and national athletics star, will be one of the first relay participants. National and international Olympic and Paralympic athletes are also expected to take part in the various stages of this initiative.
The Quelfes Games are an educational project born in 2008 in the municipality with the same name. Its mascot is Kelfi, a small wolf charged by the ancient priests of Olympia to defend the Olympic ideals and pass them on to future generations. The mascot, created by the Portuguese illustrator Orlando do Ó, captivated the attention of Gustavo Marcos, the initiator of the project, who adopted it as the mascot of the Quelfes Games Movement.