Manuel Torres, known as "Galhofa", was a cycling rider in the SC Vianense section from 1961. In 1962, he participated in the Volta a Portugal with 21 stages, but crashed in Serra do Caldeirão with an arm injury and, despite lining up for the time trial the next day, the Federation refused to reinstate him. He had to abandon to avoid paying the daily fee. In 1963, after having gone to France to flee the war, he tried the Volta again, but the entire team suffered food poisoning from shrimp pastries at a convent during the Fafe-Guarda stage, and 17 members abandoned the race.
He then settled in Bragança, where there was no organized cycling, so he founded it. He taught mechanics to the kids by taking their bicycles apart piece by piece and painted them all the same color to look like a team. From the Veloclube he created came the first national champion in 1980, and the following year his son Daniel won the first of five national titles.
José Martins started playing football at 14 in Parque do Arnado, in Ponte de Lima. A SC Braga coach saw him play and invited him to try out at the minhoto club, where he went the next day. His career in Braga was interrupted twice: first by a serious knee injury at 18, which led to him being loaned to Atlético de Valdevez, and then by the Colonial War, which mobilized him to Guinea for two years.
He returned at 24, already married and with children, and realized he would likely remain a substitute. He chose to work and play in district leagues, where he earned more than as a professional. He remembers the dirt fields full of stones, where goalkeepers were all scraped up at night and often could not sleep. Neither achieved full professionalism, but both remain connected to sport: Torres training runners in Bragança and Martins following the results of Limianos, the club from his hometown.
