Marino Vanhoenacker will be at the IRONMAN Lanzarote
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As enrollment closes (the 30 / 4 at midnight) for the 26th edition of the IRONMAN Lanzarote, triathletes are still signing up to be in the rabbit hunt the next 20 in May.
Among them, the Belgian Marino Vanhoenacker, with 15 titles of Champion of IRONMAN and an 3ª place in the IRONMAN Hawaii of 2010. At his 40 years, he decides for the first time to face the challenge of the Lanzarote test. And it does so when the last three winners have already confirmed their participation, Jesse Thomas (USA) 2016, Alexander Degasperi (ITA) 2015 and Romain Guillaume (FRA) 2014 and a few other renowned triathletes like French Cyril Viennot, ITU 2015 world champion and twice top 6 in Kona, Hawaii.
"Lanzarote is a classic that I never did. Now is the time. I came to Club La Santa in April to do my homework before deciding. I am very excited to compete here to see how far I can go and I think I could win, although I must admit that here it will be more difficult than in other races: the route does not go with my style of racing and, in addition, there is a lot of"This man tells us that he was the world record in IRONMAN in 2011 (Austria).
"I have been coming to the island for about 15 years. In the beginning, I trained with Luc van Lierde and I always left the island worse than when I arrived because he destroyed me on every training campus. After the first two years, I said that I would never return to this island, that it did not suit me. I stopped coming for 7 or 8 years, but then the last 6-7 years, I have been back a couple of times in winter. Now, I would not say that he has conquered the island, but he has learned to live with it.
It does not help to fight the wind or the mountain, you have to absorb them and live with them and that's what I did in recent years. People have often asked me why Lanzarote was not running, but I have always answered that it was too hard and too windy. I ride well on a bike, but I'm not good at climbing.
I've always thought that, if you make such a demanding career, you ruin the rest of the season, but this was when I still wanted to go to Kona, and now that is no longer the case, I see everything from another perspective"Adds this Belgian, hinting that he will go to the top or home, as he always does when competing in an IRONMAN:
"I like to take risks and when I compete, I give everything, so why not apply the same when choosing the race. After a rather bad race in New Zealand, I have some energy and thanks to the time between the two events, I think the time has come to enter the history of Lanzarote.
I still believe that maybe I have too many ports to be able to win, that this race is too hard and too slow for me, but I also really want to find out if it really is that way or if I can do something good here"Says Marino Vanhoenacker.
The champions of the last three years will go into action
Just as they signed up, this is how the last three IRONMAN Lanzarote champions have registered, Lucy Gossage (GBR), winner of 2014, Diana Riesler (GER), in 2015 and Tine Holst (DEN) who won in 2016, and comes to defend his title.
The Galician SCastro fin, the British Lucy Charles (3ª in 2016) and the Belgian Alexandra Tondeur (2ª in 2016), are some of the other professionals who will try to stand out.
Marathon route: changes for the better: two laps instead of three
The 42,2 km of the marathon will continue bordering the Atlantic Ocean throughout Puerto del Carmen and beyond Playa Honda, but this year it will go to the end of Arrecife, going around the picturesque Charco San Ginés, where the great presence of bars and restaurants promise to offer runners a lot of atmosphere, music and spectators.
This change to two rounds instead of three, will allow more amplitude resulting in greater comfort for the participants. The first round will be about 30 km and the second, much shorter, about 12 km.
Photos:Brian Martin Rasmussen / Diego Santamaria /JamesMitchell
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