Coach Kiko Martín is awarded with the 2025 Canoeing Timón Trophy

The coach from the Reial Club Nàutic Port de Pollença and the national selection is the first awarded technician in ten years of history of the awards of Gaceta Náutica.

The 2025 Canoeing Timón Trophy of Gaceta Náutica has befallen on Kiko Martín, canoe coach of the Reial Club Nàutic Port de Pollença and technician of the national selection of the Royal Spanish Canoeing Federation. With this prize, the jury recognizes for the first time a decade of history in the work of a coach, after some of his apprentices (Sete Benavides, Joan Toni Moreno or Toni Segura) having already received the same recognition years before.

Martín got into canoeing late and by chance, proceeding from athletics and motivated by his sons. “I started as a senior, competed in some sea national race and when the vacancy appeared at the club, I decided to become a coach… and up until today”, he remembers.

His irruption as technician matched with the one of Sete Benavides, whom he himself considers his first great revelation. “With the entry of Sete and his successes we saw an opportunity. Everyone wanted Sete, and that was an explosion for the club. It stopped being such a minority sport and we decidedly bid for the track and the canoe”, he explains. To that phenomenon, baptized as the “Sete effect”, it transformed Balearic canoeing and turned the small club of Pollença into a world reference.

The secret, says Kiko, is simple: “Work and not having a clock. Work, work and work. It’s not just organizing training: you have to be with them in everything, help them when they’re sick, support them in their studies, take them out of non-favoring environments. A coach has to accompany them in all moments; they must feel that they are sheltered and guided towards success”.

Under his direction, the lake Esperanza (the natural training track of the club in Alcudia) has also turned into a champions lab. “It is a harsh, salad and not very deep track. This gives us resistance and speed. Training there forms paddlers”, he explains.

Martín ensures that, beyond physical conditions, what distinguishes a good paddler is attitude. “The one who wants it gets there. There’s no secrets. To dream, to fight everyday and to have objectives in the short and long term. Wok also gives results”.

The coach recognizes that receiving the Timón Trophy has a special meaning: “It’s an award that makes me really excited because it is given by Gaceta Náutica, which represents all of us who work at sea: sailing, canoeing, fishing… Being recognized from your own environment has an added value”.

The 10th Timón Awards, organized by Gaceta Náutica, are sponsored by Autoridad Portuaria de Baleares, Ports IB, Redeia and D-Marin, and it has the collaboration of Bufete Frau, Sa Calma Boats, Portcall, Cruceros Margarita, Alcudiamar, Club de Vela Port d’Andratx, Puerto Portals, Port Adriano, Astilleros de Mallorca, León Von Ondarza Abogados, Asociación de Clubes Náuticos de Baleares, ANADE, Real Club Náutico de Palma, Bodegas José Luis Ferrer and Exclusive Rent 4 Events. This year’s gala will be celebrated on November 21st at Palma’s Port Centre (institutional headquarters of Autoridad Portuaria de Baleares) at 7:30 p.m.