The Ironman Lanzarote Canarias Triathlon reaches its 20º edition with a record of participation

Almost 1.500 athletes from 40 countries will start the next Saturday, May 21. Among the favorites to win the race were the German Timo Bracht, and Gregorio Cáceres and Nicholas Ward from Lanzarote. Among the women, Nicole Woysch and local runner Aroa Merino stand out

"Lanzarote is a top-level sports tourist destination and without a doubt the Ironman is its flagship. It is the most traditional event within the entire annual calendar of sporting events on the island, and without any doubt the Cabildo will continue to bet on maintaining the event and helping the Ironman continue in Lanzarote ”. This is how the president of the Lanzarote Cabildo, Pedro san Ginés, expressed himself at the end of the press conference in which the twentieth edition of the Ironman Lanzarote Canarias Triathlon was presented, considered the toughest Ironman triathlon in the world and one of the most prestigious - for the quality of their organization and beauty of their routes - after the Hawaii Ironman.

San Ginés recalled in his speech that “the island has opted for sport as an element of differentiation from other tourist destinations, and proof of this is the promotion of the Lanzarote European Sports Destination brand, which has been registered by the Insular Corporation, and with which is intended to highlight the excellent climatic and environmental conditions with the island as a place to practice sport ”.

For his part, the race director, the Danish Kenneth Gasque, reported on the details of a race that celebrates its twentieth edition and that once again exceeds, one more year, the numbers of participants of the previous edition (1.386 in 2010 ), and which, according to Gasque, "also aims to improve the level of organization of the event."

Gasque –qualified by San Ginés as the soul of the test -, detailed the characteristics of a race in which athletes face 3.8 km of swimming, 180 km of cycling and 42.2 km of running, and that this year will have a total of 1.471 participants, of which that 28 are professionals and the rest are included in the age groups. Of these 1.443, 1.306 are men and 137 women. Of all of them two are runners discounts, that is, they have some kind of disability.

Of all these runners, about a third, about 450, are Spanish, the largest representation within the 40 nationalities present at the 2011 Ironman. In turn, about a hundred of these 450 triathletes are Canaries.

Among the professionals, the figure of Timo Bracht, currently in third place in the world professional ranking, and those of the two people from Lanzarote Gregorio Caceres (fourth in the 2009 edition) and Nicholas Ward (sixth in 2010) stand out. . In professional women, the presence of Nicole Woysh stands out, while in women of age groups Aroa Merino from Lanzarote, who in several editions has been the best classified Spanish.

Source: desnivel.com