The manager of the Lanzarote Security and Emergency Consortium, Enrique Espinosa, has assured that "the roads will not be closed" during the celebration of the next Ironman, as agreed in last Thursday's meeting to organize the event. In this meeting - which also included representatives from the Government Delegation in the Canary Islands, the Island Directorate, Traffic, and the Sports Area - "the entire Ironman route" was discussed, which will now be presented to the Civil Guard "to see if there is anything to correct," Enrique Espinosa commented.
Regarding the entire route, the Consortium manager stated, in declarations to La Voz, that "the most important thing is the bicycle segment." Thus, given the concern shown by the Island Council or the mayor of Haría, it was decided in the meeting that "the roads will not be closed." Espinosa clarified that, of the 180 km to be covered by bicycle, "90 will be closed, but only the road the runner is using", while "the other will remain open." Thus, the problem is that in this section "we are skirting the law," because "normally it has to be on a closed circuit, but this island is different, because if it is done on a closed circuit, we close the entire island," he commented.
The meeting also addressed the incident that occurred during the last Ironman in which residents of Ye and Guinate were left isolated, according to the mayor of Haría, Marci Acuña, who was also present at the assembly. In this regard, Enrique Espinosa assured that "the captain and the lieutenant said that this was a failure of both the organization and the Civil Guard." He described it as a "lapse of 40-45 minutes", because "the Civil Guard did not receive the correct instructions", but "did their job." "Hopefully this will not happen this year," added the Consortium manager.
"More civil guards are needed, yes, but the positions are filled"
The concern shown by the island's Security and Emergency Councilor, Echedey Eugenio, who attributed the traffic collapse in the Tri122 event in Teguise to the lack of Civil Guard officers, was also addressed. Thus, Espinosa stated that, in general, more Civil Guard officers "are needed" but also that the positions they need for the celebration of the Ironman "are filled." Furthermore, the manager of the Emergency Consortium commented that "people always come from Las Palmas and Tenerife for the Ironman."
Regarding security, Enrique Espinosa asserted that in the meeting "the lieutenant colonel requested special measures due to the level 4 anti-terrorist threat we have" for the start segment, "due to the crowding of people."
The manager of the Security and Emergency Consortium defended the particularities of the island. "It is impossible to close the island, which is different; that is why people come to the island, otherwise they would stay in Madrid," and added that "we are different and we advocate for sports tourism and that is why we are going to reach a consensus." Thus, regarding the meeting held last week for the organization of the Ironman, he comments that "the delegation table reached 95% agreement, now it is nuances" that have to be refined.
