Arrecife will be the epicenter to say goodbye to the last day of the year. The capital of Lanzarote will focus on revitalization with two major sporting events, in the morning, in the El Reducto area and the José Ramírez Cerdá Park, the New Year's Eve party next to the San Ginés square, and the New Year's Eve Chimes, broadcast on television for all of Spain, from the San José Castle. A day that will be linked to the commemoration of the 225th anniversary of the founding of the municipality of Arrecife.
The Municipal Archive of Arrecife has been the setting for the presentation of the San Silvestre Ciudad de Arrecife 2024 and a new sports premiere promoted by the Municipal Government, led by the mayor of Arrecife, to reactivate and relaunch the capital of Lanzarote as the venue for sporting events. This year, for the first time, along with the San Silvestre, the Swim Silvestre is organized, using the waters that bathe the renovated pedestrian promenade next to El Reducto beach as a swimming area.
The mayor of Arrecife, Yonathan de León, accompanied by the Councilor for Commerce, Tourism and Sports, Eli Merino, presented during the morning of this Thursday, December 26, the popular race San Silvestre Ciudad de Arrecife 2024 and the Swim Silvestre that will take place on December 31, within the commemorative events to close the celebration of the 225th anniversary of the founding of the municipality of Arrecife.
Along with the mayor and the Sports Councilor, Alejandro Acuña, representing Tripasión and Lumar Canarias, and Melania Martín, from the Fundación Asociación Pequeño Valiente, with which the Arrecife City Council collaborates and supports, also spoke at the presentation.
The popular race “San Silvestre Ciudad de Arrecife” has, one more year, a design by Manrique as its official poster and in its twelfth edition it marks a new record of participants, reaching almost 1,500 runners and hanging the sign that there are no more places available.
The event will start at 10:00 a.m. on December 31, with the children's race, and later, at 12:00 p.m., the adults will start, with the start and finish line in the Islas Canarias Park.
The capital's mayor, Yonathan De León, explained that “the two events will take place around Arrecife, something important is also that all participants will pass through the renovated pedestrian area next to El Reducto beach, a new area that we are revitalizing after a year of works, and in which we are creating a lot of activity, not only with musical and leisure events, but also with sporting events. I would like to thank the Councilor for Sports, Eli Merino, for the work she does, together with the technicians, for carrying out this and other sporting events that project our city abroad. This December 31 we are going to have a lot of activity in the capital, not only with festive events, such as in La Recova, in the Plazuela, in the Plaza de la Iglesia, in the Plaza del Almacén, but we are also going to have these sporting events.”
The mayor thanked the Tourist Centers and Tourism of Lanzarote for their support of these events, whose representatives Ángel Vázquez, and Héctor Fernández, who, due to agenda reasons, have not been able to be present at the press conference.
“We already have almost 1,400 participants, I think we are breaking all possible records, in which we are also going to have the Swim San Silvestre in which, for the moment, there are already 70 registered. I think it is going to be a very motivating, very revitalizing day and that we are going to have a spectacular end to the year, uniting all the gastronomic, festive and sporting activity in our city. Arrecife is once again becoming the Christmas capital of the Canary Islands, but also the sports capital of the Canary Islands,” emphasized the mayor Yonathan de León, who last year, as in this 2024, will participate in the race.
The Councilor for Sports, and head of the Commerce and Tourism Areas, Eli Merino, stated that “the San Silvestre Ciudad de Arrecife is a race that everyone is waiting for to end the year in a different way and in the best way, doing sports with family and friends. It is a non-competitive sporting event because it is to have a good time and unite all those people who believe in sports. I appreciate the constant support of the mayor for his support of all these new revitalization proposals, with sporting events, which we are focusing on in a different and novel way in the city of Arrecife. My thanks for also supporting this new event, which is the Swim Silvestre, an event that starts from El Reducto and I think it is also here to stay. We are going to try to ensure that other important modalities have their corner and their important space in our municipality, in Arrecife, because we have a beautiful coastline, a beautiful urban beach that must be promoted.”
As Eli Merino detailed, "this year, after many years, participants are charged a small fee, symbolic, because we wanted to support associations that carry out important work in the community. They have a headquarters in Arrecife, such as the Asociación Pequeño Valiente, to which these registration fees are allocated. My thanks and congratulations to the participants.”
Melania Martín, social worker of the Fundación Canarias Pequeño Valiente, thanked “the great support we have from the Arrecife City Council. We also come up with crazy projects and we present them and they have never said no, they are always there and putting all the facilities to carry the burden. We are always delighted because, thanks to these financings, we can continue our fight, our fight helping our families, so that we are always present and reach everything they really need, which are the important thing, the families that we really serve. That is why we want to thank them, infinitely, for the support that the Arrecife City Council presents to us. Thank you very much.”
Alejandro Acuña took the floor last to clarify that he was “representing Lumar, the company that manages the event, but I am the director of the race. This year the novelty of overlapping the two events, we have Swim Silvestre and the San Silvestre Ciudad de Arrecife, running and swimming. And, logically, as the mayor says, it will all be in Arrecife. In the San Silvestre Ciudad de Arrecife we have the same route as last year with the only change behind the church, which we skirt. In any case, it will be published, the program will be sent with all the information, the schedules, the delivery and the route. Then we have the Swim Silvestre, which has 70 participants. At the same time, people have been divided because there are participants who run, but also swim. A great effort has been made and the crossing has been taken out. We have in the Swim Silvestre distances of 1,600 meters and 1,400 meters and everyone concentrates on El Reducto Beach, with prizes for the first three in each modality. And in the San Silvestre Ciudad de Arrecife we have the group and individual prize for the most Christmasy, what they have to do is come dressed with many lights.”
From the Department of Transport and Mobility, directed by Councilor Mario González Altube, a deployment has been carried out to minimize the effects of these sporting events on the circulation of vehicles. From the Arrecife City Council, and the organization, the population is asked to be aware of the traffic cuts that will be carried out to guarantee the correct development of the event, whose prior information is shared through the networks.
