Castellers de Vilafranca crown the two most difficult human towers

According to the score rules of the biannual Concurs de Castells in Tarragona, the most difficult human towers to complete are, first, 2de9f (i.e. with an additional support structure on the second level - folre (f) - but not on the third one - manilles (m)) and, second, 3de10fm and precisely these two constructions are what Castellers de Vilafranca managed to crown (carregar) but not complete (descarregar) during their Diada de la Colla, celebrated on November 1, Tots Sant, as of tradition.



The first success of the day came with 3de10fm(c) when it was crowned on the second attempt (the first one collapsed before crowning). It was the 7th time ever Verds managed to carregar this human tower. (Since it was not completed, Minyons de Terrassa remain the only team to ever have done so with 3de10fm, and that on two occasions, 1998 and 2002.) On the other hand, the most unique construction of the exhibition this day, 2de9f(c), had only been crowned once before in casteller history – by Castellers de Vilafranca themselves, but back in 2005.

In the third round - with three collapsing castells fresh in mind - the team decided to not attempt building 4de9 (net, without folre) but opted for the more stable 5de9f – a construction which they themselves had only crowned this year, while Colla Vella dels Xiquets de Valls, so far, was the only team to have completed it. This time the construction was completed and when adding the score for this - their third gamma extra human tower of the day - to the earlier rounds, Verds achieved their best result of the season 2011 which in turn is their best season ever.

In the same exhibition, Xiquets de Tarragona was the second best team and completed a magic triplet of human towers usually reserved for the absolutely best teams; 5de8, 4de9f and 3de9f.



Capgrossos de Mataró also proved to be in great shape and completed the clàssica de nou; 4de9f, 3de9f and 2de8f.

Castellers de Sants, the fourth team, also they had reasons to celebrate: they completed 5de8 and 4de8 but, most importantly, crowned their first human tower of nine levels this season; 3de9f(c).

The total exhibition here in the plaça de la Vila of Vilafranca del Penedès (Catalonia’s number one square for human towers – la plaça més castellera), lasted for five hours and it is estimated that up to the moment when Verds managed with the 3de10(c), there were almost 10.000 spectators present in the square. It is also worth mentioning that on the occasion Verds had called in special support troops to reinforce the base – pinya - of the castells in the form of the rugby team Santboiana.

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Read more in Catalan – el 3 de Vuit, el Punt / Avui (1, 2) and Tot Mataró – and Spanish – el Periódico