The 30th edition of the Lanzarote International Marathon has had to be canceled due to “the lack of Local Police in Teguise", in addition to the difficulty in carrying out road and track closures on the route, as stated by the CEO of the organizing company, Juan Carlos Albuixech.
The director of the race assures that this decision was made “a month and a half ago”, although they had not made it public until now. “We have no other alternative”, says Albuixech, who adds that it will not be possible until the Teguise City Council decides to “increase the number of Local Police officers”. However, he proposes another solution that consists of the Council issuing an ordinance that allows “other security forces” to be transferred, to carry out those tasks “that the municipal police cannot do”, as he claims happens “in other municipalities”.
Juan Carlos Albuixech emphasizes that the organization also offered the Council the possibility of putting personnel “trained by themselves”, or even a group of volunteers to carry out the test. However, he assures that if they did, “they would be sanctioned”, as it is prohibited in Teguise, since these powers fall to the Local Police.
According to the director of Sands Beach Active, the company organizing the event, the Teguise City Council gave a series of alternatives for the route in Costa Teguise that were “incompatible” for the runners. “They would have to go through the Las Cucharas car park, and then go through a path one and a half meters wide”, Albuixech details. In addition, he assures that it is “impossible for 352 people to pass through there at the same time”, which was the number of people registered until the moment they decided to suspend the test.
In addition, the director criticizes that “unforeseen works” have begun in some sections of the route, in addition to questioning that the Teguise City Council has started the construction of the bicycle lane on Ancla beach “just when it is the Marathon”.
Therefore, this will be the second year in which the Lanzarote International Marathon does not run through the streets of Teguise, after the cancellation of the 2020 edition due to the health situation derived from the pandemic. Albuixech clarifies that the date of the test is the one established “internationally”, so it is impossible to consider the possibility of proposing a new date.