Sports

Both the favorite teams to win this year''s Concha Flag rowing competition, Kaiku and Urdaibai, will be looking to clinch the Basque province of Biscay''s 13th victory in the Basque rowing season''s most important race.

In the case of a win for Kaiku, the Sestao team would take home their sixth trophy, while the team from Bermeo, Urdaibai, are looking to seal their first ever victory inSan Sebastian''s Concha Bay. Victory in this most monumental of settingshas so far escaped Urdaibai, despite having come close to a win on anumber of previous occasions.

The first Biscay rowing team to ever get a win in Donostia-San Sebastian was Ondarroa in 1898, who were to get a repeat victory 28 years later in 1926.

In1954, the Hojalatera team or ''panel beaters'' of Iberia, from Sestao,were victorious, and one year later another team from Sestao, made upof rowers from both Iberia and Kaiku, would once again bring the trophyback to the left bank of the Nervion river.

The golden years of Biscay rowing were to fall principally between the years 1978 and 1985 when Kaiku (in 1978, 1980, 1981 and 1982) and Santurtzi (1977, 1979 and 1985) were to reign glorious. This was followed by a 24-year ''drought'' for Biscay in the Concha Flag competition until rowing team the Bizkaitarra''s victory in 2008.

The Concha Flag victory table is overwhelmingly dominated by teams from Gipuzkoa with a total of 93 Flags, 31 of which were won by Orio. This is followed by 12 for Biscay and 10 for Cantabria.