The X Lanzarote Summer Challenge has crowned its winners, the couple formed by Fátima Caballero and Carmen Pericet and the couple of Alejandro de la Guardia and Fernando Llaneza who have won the title of champions in an edition that is postulated as the toughest and most demanding in the history of this championship to date, a success in terms of participation and also public attendance by including up to three different locations, El Islote de la Fermina, Marina Lanzarote Puerto Deportivo and El Reducto beach with absolute full in all of them.
The day began precisely in El Reducto, with the avenue crowded with public to see the participants demonstrate a display of strength and endurance, but also coordination between couples. The athletes had to lift a Russian weight of up to 36 kilos over their heads, but they also had to lift a sack of up to 75 kilos between the two athletes to travel ten meters making strides in a synchronized manner. And all this on the sand. Extreme effort and maximum tension in a test that has not forgotten the burpees on the beach.
This test or wod was the last opportunity for athletes to qualify for the grand final, where only the top eight couples in each category had a place.
In the Marina of La Marina the demanding finals awaited them that would crown the strongest. A challenge of endless repetitions that have tested the physical and mental endurance of the competitors. Suspended from a bar, we have seen them performing 100 very hard repetitions touching the bar with their feet, the two members of the team totally synchronized. 75 pistols, squats on one leg, suspension in rings, with their arms at the limit, or up to 50 lifts of 100 kilos. Muscles at the maximum of their capacity and effort to exhaustion before the applause of completely crowded stands that have not stopped encouraging very hard finals.
Finally, the champions of the queen category, male RX of the Lanzarote Summer Challenge 2024 have been the couple formed by Alejandro de la Guardia and Fernando Llaneza, followed by Jaime Rozalén and Carlos Casado in second position and Jaazael Suárez and Juan Salvador Franquis in third. The champions in female RX have been Fátima Caballero and Carmen Pericet, followed by Andrea Ramal and Claudia Cabrera and Sofía Miran and Teresa Pereira completing the podium.
The winners of the Master category have been Adargoma Moreno and Ezequiel Henriquez. In male Intermediate category, Jonatan Iglesias and Oliver Viera. The champions in female Intermediate category were Candela Arjona and Fátima Pascual.
In male Scale Sebastián Orozco and Nayim Mohamed Mizzian have been proclaimed winners and in female Scale the winners have been Miriam Peña and Soledad Bolaños.
During the awards ceremony were present the mayor of Arrecife, Yonathan de León, the Minister of Sports of the Cabildo de Lanzarote, Juan Monzón, the Deputy Minister of Physical Activity and Sports of the Government of the Canary Islands, Ángel Sabroso, Roberto Herbón, second lieutenant of mayor of the City Council of Arrecife and Elizabeth Merino, Councilor of Tourism and Sports of the City Council of Arrecife.
In the words of the mayor of Arrecife, Yonathan de León, it has been a success to multiply the locations of this edition, "The large number of people, not only athletes, but also family members who come to support them", have come to be part of the show "throughout our coastline," a revitalization of the area that gets "the restoration sector, shops and hotels to benefit."
The Minister of Sports of the Cabildo de Lanzarote, Juan Monzón, highlighted for his part that "Lanzarote is already defined as a first-class sports tourist destination, proof of this is this international event," very much in line with "the Cabildo of the island to combine tourism and sporting events", without forgetting that "it also values the very high participation of women".
The Deputy Minister of Physical Activity and Sports of the Government of the Canary Islands, Ángel Sabroso, assured that a non-federated sports modality with so much follow-up "is of interest both from public administrations in general and from the Government of the Canary Islands in particular for its promotion of the practice of physical exercise and healthy lifestyle habits."
The director of the Lanzarote Summer Challenge 2024, Carmen Vicente, concluded that "this tenth edition has undoubtedly been the best so far, both for the influx of public, as for the number of applicants, the demand of the tests and the sports level." Vicente confessed that the best thing is "to see the athletes wanting to return next year, "I assure you that we already have new ideas to challenge them even more."
This puts an end to a weekend of one of the most spectacular sports modalities from Arrecife and Lanzarote, which have already become an international reference of the best CrossFit of the moment.
