Cycling, Wellbeing and Legacy
On Saturday, the programme continues across different Troodos communities. In Ayia Marina Xyliatou, the Mountain Games Ayia Marina Cycling Festival, coordinated by Lazaros Lazarou and the Olympiada Neapoleos Cycling Club, offers competitive and open mountain biking activities for athletes, children, academies, and the wider public.
In Kakopetria, former international footballer Nektarios Alexandrou and GDA Sports design and coordinate the Mentoring U12 Football Tournament, with eight U12 academies taking part. Former and current footballers support the children as mentors, while the tournament is complemented by an open discussion and workshop on mental, physical and digital resilience involving athletes, parents and coaches. In parallel, the two-day Leading Quality Trails – Best of Europe workshop concludes in Spilia.
In Omodos, Taste, Move & Thrive continues with the Mountain Products and Makers Market, which remains open until 21:00. The day begins with the culinary workshop “Family Breakfast: Bread, Sourdough & Tradition”, led by chef Marilena Ioannidou and Chef Pâtissier Eleni Georgiou, together with women’s groups and traditional bread-makers from mountain communities.
At the heart of the workshop are breads, sourdough and the flavours that shaped everyday food culture in the mountains. These include Arkatena koulouria and Koilani glytzista, both inscribed on Cyprus’s National Inventory of Intangible Cultural Heritage, as well as halloumotes, eliotes, kattimeri, kaikana, daktyla, pies, and traditional pasta from the village of Kampos. Visitors can watch them being made, meet the women who keep this knowledge alive, and taste them alongside seasonal fruit, local honey, and infusions made from aromatic herbs from Troodos.
The programme continues with activities on traditional preservation techniques, making full use of local products and zero-waste practices, as well as the international culinary workshop “Crete–Cyprus”, where European Young Chef 2025 Giannis Liapakis and Executive Chef Andreas Andreou bring the two Mediterranean cuisines into dialogue through traditional cooked dishes, local products and contemporary interpretations. Further activities explore the culinary uses of almonds and seasonal fruit, followed by presentations from local wineries and wine tasting.
In the afternoon, the thirty-member women’s a cappella Amalgamation Choir, conducted by Vasiliki Anastasiou, presents the musical performance “Eis ton Aeran” in the Courtyard of the Holy Cross Monastery. Immediately afterwards, the same courtyard hosts the Vineyard & Wine Pairing, featuring live outdoor cooking by chef Stavros Georgiou (Stavris) and pairings of vineyard products, seasonal ingredients and local wines.
The four-day programme reaches its scientific culmination in Platres with the Mountain Games Legacy Forum – “Exercise, Nutrition and Wellbeing: The Three Pillars of Health”. Dr Antonia Trichopoulou presents the Mediterranean Diet as a global model for sustainable development; Dr Yiannis Koutedakis makes the case for “Exercise: the most affordable, most effective medicine, with zero side effects”; and Stelios Kiosses examines Why We Eat What We Eat through the lens of Culinary Psychology.
This is followed by the panel “From scientific knowledge to policy and practice”, moderated by Dr Athanasios Tziamourtas, and the closing section “Mountain Games Cyprus 2026: The Journey, the Impact, What Comes Next”, which reflects on the four-day event and sets directions for what follows. Mountain Games Cyprus 2026 concludes at 20:30, with the invitation-only Mountain Games Closing Gala, where the gastronomic programme meets the music of Gaba Project and the voice of Vasiliki Anastasiou.
PROGRAMME AT A GLANCE
07:30–18:30
Mountain Games in Action
Mountain Games Ayia Marina Cycling Festival
Ayia Marina Xyliatou
09:00–16:00
Mountain Games in Action
Mentoring U12 Football Tournament
Kakopetria Community Stadium
09:00–17:00
Mountain Games: A Laboratory for the Future
Leading Quality Trails – Best of Europe, Day 2
Spilia Cultural Centre
10:00–21:00
Taste, Move & Thrive
Mountain Products and Makers Market
Omodos
15:00–16:00
Mountain Culture in Motion
Amalgamation Choir – “Eis ton Aeran”
Holy Cross Monastery Courtyard, Omodos – advance booking required
17:00–19:40
Mountain Games: A Laboratory for the Future
Mountain Games Legacy Forum
“Giorgos Seferis” Cultural Centre, Platres
20:30 – by invitation only
Mountain Culture in Motion
Mountain Games Closing Gala
Participation Information
Complete details on hiking routes, activity schedules, meeting points, equipment requirements, accessibility information, the Closing Ceremony, and the final Taste, Move & Thrive programme will be published prior to the event.