20/06/2011

Spanish athlete Manuel Martínez, world champion on shot put, sponsored the presentation of the third edition of the charity race 'Los Calderones', which will take place July 3 in Viñayo, Leon, that gives the amount of fees and donations to research carried out at Vall d'Hebron Research Institute (VHIR), the team of Dr. Jose Sanchez Toledo, Chief of Pediatric Oncology and Hematology at Vall d'Hebron University Hospital.During the presentation of the race, at the Pediatric Oncology Service, one of the organizers, Luis Alberto Barriguín explained they decided to send the colected funds of the competition to VHIR "because it is one of the leading institutions worldwide in this field of research". Meanwhile, Juan Antonio Fernandez acknowledged that for now although the contribution is modest, "Vall d'Hebron treat us as if our contribution was a million euros."Attracted by the initiative, sensitized by the work of his countrymen and as always willing to help for good causes, Manuel Martinez praised "the moral force of the event" and said that he "is honored to support such a worthy and needed cause". The world champion, recently retired from athletics and will soon appear as an actor in the film 'Capitán Trueno', assured that although he can't run the race, he found it "a great challenge and a great opportunity to help research and incidentally to know and make known a beautiful area that I recommend to everyone".