The most demanding tests and the most extreme challenges have come together in the first day of the 'IX Lanzarote Summer Challenge', the international CrossFit championship that has been
held throughout the weekend in Arrecife. An event that has welcomed 160 of the best athletes of the moment, from Portugal, Spain, England or Italy.
El Reducto beach has been the scene of the first exercises, only suitable for the brave, on a day of sun, pleasant temperatures and an atmosphere of maximum expectation. In the Scale, Intermediate, Team Master (couples over 35 years) and Team RX categories, the elite category of the competition, the participants had to overcome very tough challenges of strength and speed on the beach.
We have seen them dragging up to 90 kilos of weight through the sand, lifting sandbags of up to 80 kilos, running almost a kilometer along the beach and covering a distance swimming, all in the shortest possible time. The fastest managed to complete all these tests in less than 14 minutes, earning the applause and cheers of the large audience that gathered on the capital's beach.
The competition then moved to the Islote de la Fermina, a natural and unique enclave in the heart of the city, one of the biggest attractions of this sporting event. Atmosphere of crowded stands to receive the competitors, who have faced challenges as demanding as the 'pull ups', lifting their own weight suspended on a bar, or the 'thrusters', lifting bars of up to 60 kilos over their heads.
One of the novelties of the edition came with the 'Echo Bikes', the toughest stationary bikes with arm movement that exist. After giving their all on them, the athletes had to perform double rope jumps with heavy ropes that made the exercise difficult.
The challenges did not end here, climbing a rope four and a half meters high, walking on their own hands covering a distance of five meters, crossed rope jumps or weight lifting of more than 30 kilos with one hand have raised the attending public. Not forgetting the dreaded 'burpees', very hard exercises in which athletes combine push-ups with vertical jumps, in this occasion, also, dodging a bar on the ground.
At the close of this note, the queen category, 'Team RX', was led by the favorites, such as the Catalan Xevi Serra and his partner, Rower Andre Carvalho, or the Canarians Bryan Hernández and Alex de la Guardia, followed closely by Sebastián Arias and Jonay Acuña. Among the girls, Laura Pérez and the athlete from Guadalajara Andrea Valenciano were in the lead, a couple that also starts as a favorite, followed by Victoria Pérez and Ludivia Ortiz and the couple Claudia Rodríguez and Silvia Fernández.
In 'Team Master' the outstanding couples are those formed by María González and César Ruiz, Mihaela Veltan and José Carlos González and the team of Ladislav Suchanek and Ria Hrusvska. As for the 'Scale' category, the athletes Luis Yamir Morales and Yose Ibáñez stand out in the men's category and Valeria Gómez and Guacimara Padrón in the women's category; in Intermediate, Pablo Tejera and Alberto Santos among the boys and Tine Helleskov and Claudia Cabrera among the girls.
