Esther Campos will be the herald of the 2024 Pilar Festival in Fraga
Esther Campos Basols (Fraga, 1952), a sportswoman from Fraga, will be the official speaker for the 2024 Pilar Festival. Esther Campos is a prominent figure in both the sporting and cultural spheres of the city thanks to her successes in shooting sports and for being the driving force behind the Bobbin Lace Meeting, which will reach its 28th edition this year.
Her sporting career began in 1982, when she took up shooting in the air pistol and .22 caliber women's pistol disciplines. Over the years, she excelled in national and international competitions, representing Spain in championships around the world. In 1987, she became the Spanish champion in Madrid in the air pistol discipline, and a year later, in 1988, she and the national team were crowned world team champions in Mexico, a feat she repeated in 1989. Her participation with the national team continued with competitions in Europe, traveling to France, Germany, Switzerland, Yugoslavia, and Denmark.
One of the most memorable moments of her career was in 1991, when she broke the Spanish record in air pistol during a competition in Valencia. And in 1992, another milestone occurred when she was selected to carry the Olympic torch representing the city of Fraga, an honor that reflected her importance both locally and nationally.
After her successful sports career, Campos decided in 1995 to retire from competition and dedicate herself to her other great passion: bobbin lace. With her encouragement and the support of the Fraga City Council, the first bobbin lace gathering in the city was organized, bringing together more than 400 people—an event that has maintained its popularity to this day.
The mayor of Fraga, Ignacio Gramún, has stated that “the appointment of Esther Campos as the herald of the Pilar Festival is a recognition of her sporting and cultural career, and coinciding with an Olympic year, it is a way of highlighting the career of the woman who has been, to this day, the greatest representative from Fraga in the history of the Olympics.”
“Esther’s life is an example of the values that women from Fraga represent, values that she has conveyed in her sporting activities and that she transmits every year at the Bobbin Lace Meeting, and that I am sure we will be able to hear in the opening speech that will mark the beginning of festivities that promise to be very special,” Gramún concluded.
For her part, the Councillor for Festivals, Mapi Aquilué, has stated that “there is less than a month left to celebrate Pilar again and enjoy a program that we have been working on for many months and that includes important new features.”
