It was in 2003 when a group of friends who love motorbikes decided to set up a motorbike club, signing a constitutional act and establishing the basis of the current “CLUB DEPORTIVO DE MOTOCICLISMO GAMBRINUS”, with registration number 12257, which has lasted, with a lot of effort, until the present day.
At the beginning, the old “Bar Las Trojas Chicas” in the Plaza de Santa Ana in Constantina was established as the headquarters, a very normal fact in this type of association, as there was no social headquarters and this used to be the meeting point to watch the races and as a starting point for the motorcycling routes.
It should be noted that this type of sports organisations are always “non-profit associations” and that they are registered as such with the corresponding regional administrations. We emphasize this fact because the activities that have been carried out throughout the existence of our motorbike club have been self-financed with membership fees, registration fees and contributions from local companies and the City Council of Constantina, if we talk about the rallies, always with transparency of accounts, available to anyone who expressed so, whether or not belonging to the motorbike club.
Our activities in those days, as a fledgling motorbike club that we were, did not go beyond getting together to watch the races on television and the occasional motorbike ride on the weekends, being essential to go to the Grand Prix of Jerez to see our idols. It has been a long time since then…
The number of members has not been our strong point either… we have always been around 20 members, even nowadays. We were all men in the beginning, because at that time there were no “women pilots”, today, fortunately, there are. This fact of being “few people” was never an obstacle (but rather an advantage) to organise events quickly and easily, almost always by unanimous voting, always united by the biker feeling, our passion.
As our motorbike club could aspire to much more and we all had a lot of enthusiasm and drive, we began to have the idea of organising a big event that would mean for the town the benefit of the visits of other fellow bikers. It must also be said that in those days we didn’t have as many motorbikes as we now see almost every weekend in Constantina. In those years, almost all bikers moved from rally to rally to share their hobby and our roads were not as good as they are today. In fact, we ourselves used to go – and still go – to rallies in other towns, even national ones (“Pingüinos” in Valladolid, Faro in Portugal, the Jerez Grand Prix, etc…).
For all these reasons, the idea of the “I Concentración Motera Ciudad de Constantina” began to take shape in 2004. After many vicissitudes (permits, competent authority, local and regional entities, etc.) we managed to carry out this idea that began as just that, an idea, and we have already celebrated the 12+1 edition, in 2017.
The first of our rallies was a great success, even though we had no experience, we had many failures, but everyone left very happy and that is what drove us to continue. The first idea was to make it a one-day event, to see how it went, but in the end we wanted to go for it and make it a two-day event, as nobody had tried it yet.
It was then, in these beginnings, when we saw the possibilities that this type of activity could bring to our town, as it had some acceptance and easy to project into the future, trying to expand visitors, services, entertainment activities, etc..
The motorcycle rally has become one of the great events of this town and, what can we say about the movement that we generated that weekend in many of the establishments of this town.
It is also worth mentioning that, after “12+1” rallies, we are one of the best in Seville. We have an increasing number of visitors, both from abroad and from the town itself, and we are becoming more and more well known abroad, managing to take the name of Constantina as far as possible.
You can’t imagine what a joy it is to be at one of the biggest rallies in Europe such as Pingüinos in Valladolid and also the one in Faro in Portugal and just by seeing us wearing the sweatshirt or the T-shirt of our motorbike club, we are greeted: “Man! Gambrinus de Constantina!”…, and these details, besides satisfying us, manage to put the name of our town on the biker map, which makes us feel even prouder.
Pero, además de estas actividades ya descritas, nuestro motoclub también colabora y participa en otros muchos eventos cuando solicitan nuestra ayuda para temas organizativos, sobre todo dirección de tráfico y acompañamiento de participantes, en actividades veraniegas como la carrera “Valle de la Osa” y la “Subida en bicicleta al Cerro Negrillo”, ambas con carácter anual.
On other occasions we have also collaborated in classic car routes and other sporting events organised by the Town Council itself or by private entities. We have always collaborated with any activity that has been proposed to us and we will continue to do so with pleasure.
At present we are twenty members and only two, José Pablo (Quevedo) as president and Juan Carlos (Cirilo) as treasurer, have been with us since this motorbike club was founded, the other members have been joining this beautiful project over the years.
We can only express our deepest gratitude to the whole municipality that has been involved in all the rallies that have been held in our town, since, without this assistance, in addition, of course, to the visitors, bikers or not, who come to Constantina that weekend, they manage to give shape and content to one of the most popular annual events in our town.
On a more individual basis, we would like to thank all the corporations that have made up the City Council of Constantina during all these years, for the willingness and help they have always shown to our motorbike club, providing facilities and personnel, and including the Public Order Forces for their invaluable collaboration in maintaining order and the smooth running of all the activities that take place. It should be noted that the current headquarters of the Motoclub Gambrinus de Constantina exists thanks to the collaboration of the Town Council of Constantina and is located in the neighbourhood of “La Laguna”.
We would also like to thank all the volunteers and local companies who also do their bit to help us with the prizes that we give out during the annual meeting, by providing local products or by participating in the advertising and commercial marketing of T-shirts and posters. For us they are very important because, as well as promoting their businesses, they also help to promote the name of Constantina to the outside world, and at the same time they co-finance some aspects of this type of event.
Finally, we would like to inform you that we are still working on the annual organisation of “our-our” motorcycle rally “Ciudad de Constantina”, so we can only invite you once again to share with us a weekend full of activities and shows, which will be fun for everyone and, once again, project the name of our city of Constantina to the outside world.
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