The Minister of Sports of the Cabildo de Lanzarote, Juan Monzón, was this Tuesday on the program Buenos días, Lanzarote on Radio Lanzarote-Onda Cero to explain his trip to Hawaii in the face of criticism from opposition parties such as Unidos por Lanzarote, Nueva Canarias, or the PSOE, and assured that his main objective was to negotiate directly with the owners of Iron Man to guarantee the continuity and improvement of the event after the resignation of Club La Santa as organizer.
"I can understand the Socialist Party because they are used to their previous government when an institutional trip came up and they took it as a vacation trip and not as a work trip," the minister began. "I understand that the Socialist Party may react in this way, which is different from what this government group in the Cabildo Lanzarote does, which when it has an institutional trip, it has it because it is going to work and achieve good results and improvements for everything it is currently working on in its government responsibility in the Cabildo," he continued.
Monzón recalled "the nervousness" of the tourism sector and athletes after the resignation of Club La Santa as organizer. "All this has been the result of negotiation, coordination, and collaboration work with the owners of Iron Man to continue promoting the Iron Man Lanzarote," he defended. Furthermore, he explained that he traveled to Hawaii "because we had to close negotiations with the SEO of the Iron Man brand and, also, because we received an invitation from the SEO of Iron Man itself."
"They wanted us to be at the World Championship to see how the championship unfolded and also to make visible there in Kona something historic that has been achieved for Lanzarote, which is that Iron Man recognizes Lanzarote there in its cradle, where it was born and where the world championship takes place every year," he continued.
Likewise, he highlighted that because next year, the Iron Man of Lanzarote will celebrate its 35th anniversary and it is the first time that the Iron Man brand will organize it directly, "we wanted to be there because it was important to show that institutional support to the brand as well."
On the other hand, he pointed out that he has reached agreements such as closing that "the 35th anniversary of the Iron Man 2027 will become part of the Pro Series of the World Iron Man, that is, of the best world championships qualifying for the final world championship, among other things."
Faced with criticism from the opposition who saw it as unnecessary to travel to a territory as far away as Hawaii to address issues concerning the Iron Man, the councilor justified himself by arguing that "for us it is important to see how a world championship develops *on site* because we can take good note of the improvements for the Iron Man of Lanzarote".
Regarding the cost of the allowances, Juan Monzón has assured that it is not something that concerns him. "Look how much I care about the allowances that are earned, that I don't know, I don't even know how much the allowances that are earned are. What I do know is that we received an invitation from the CEO of the Iron Man and I passed it on to the responsible technicians because I believe it was important for them to accompany me as well in order to negotiate all kinds of technical issues for the development of Lanzarote and to finalize all the loose ends we were discussing," he indicated.
"I don't even worry about it because I didn't set the schedules, the flight days, or how many days, but rather it was how it was marked in the work plan we had to carry out," he said. "For those who say we went on vacation, we almost lost two days and a bit, two days going there by flights and two days and a bit returning here. Therefore, we were there for practically five days for the entire organization of the event," he commented.
Thus, he assured that he is unaware of the economic investment of this trip. "To finalize these agreements, there is an agreement closed with a travel agency in the Cabildo that won a tender where everything is processed. For this, there is an inspection, controls in the Cabildo prior to traveling where the different leaders who have to sign this approval of this trip sign. This is how it has been done and this is how we will send all the information to any political party that wishes to request it," he concluded.
Add La Voz de Lanzarote as a preferred Google source.
Stay informed with the latest current news.