This club tournament was contested in late June-early July 2016, and is of interest not only for the competition itself, which took place in the Algorda neighborhood of Getxo, but for the venue. The frontón municipal de la plaza San Nicolás de Algorta (updated with a new link--March 5, 2022) is a very different venue from any that have been linked to in this blog. It is an "Arkupe". Arkupes are normally the atriums of churches or city halls. They usually host one of the most ancient of Basque Pelota modalities, pasaka, which can be played with bare hands (video) or a "glove" (video) (1) (2). Look closely at the glove and you will see the ancestor of the xisteras (cestas) of the modalities of joko garbi (video), which in turn is the direct ancestor of Jai Alai/Cesta Punta, and Remonte, which evolved along a different line. Arkupes are rare in the Basque Country these days, probably less than one hundred remain. For more on the history of this arkupe see this blogpost.
In this case the fronton was used for a paleta goma tournament (watch for the large hitting area of the paleta, and the large rubber pelota). Three championship matches were held, for which full video is available for the first and third, and partial video for the second.
Video for all matches (Source: EITB)
For the record, in the first match, a women's final
Ane-Txaso (red) defeated Maria-Xandra (blue) 30-23 (0:00- 30 minutes 26 seconds on the recording).
In the second match, a men's 2 match
Aitor-Txoper (red) defeated Alaintxo-Txiki 30-26 (last few points, 31:18-36:41).
In the third match, the men's final
Batis Albonica-Natxo Garcia (blue) defeated Jon Arrieta-Alex Gonzalez (red) 30-29 (38:34-1:46:22).
The last point of this match was a fantastic point.
After the match there were the usual wonderful closing ceremonies that capped a great day of competition.
