Photos: Sergio Betancort
The Olympic athlete from Vitoria, Eneko Llanos, has become the first Spaniard to win the Ironman Lanzarote Canarias, considered by specialists as one of the toughest triathlon events in the world, which brought together a thousand participants in its sixteenth edition.
The competition, which also served as the Canary Islands Long Distance Triathlon Championship and a round of the Spanish Cup, awarded sixty qualifying places for the Ironman in Hawaii - next October - and distributed 50,000 dollars among the professionals - 8,500 for the champion -.
The "iron triathletes" faced, from seven this morning, a demanding 3.8 kilometers of swimming, in the waters of Playa de Puerto del Carmen; then they covered another 180 kilometers of cycling, through all the municipalities of Lanzarote; and, finally, reached the finish line after 42.2 kilometers of running.
Although he was in the group of favorites, the triumph of Eneko Llanos, 30, produced great satisfaction among the fans who filled the finish line stands, and the Basque specialist, who could not finish in his two previous races, stopped the clock at eight hours, 49 minutes and 38 seconds.
The podium was completed with the Belgian Luc Van Lierde, winner of the Ironman of Hawaii in 1996 and 1999, with a mark of 8.59.13 - almost ten minutes from the champion -; the German Stefan Vuckovic, second classified in the Sydney Olympic Games (9 hours, 4 minutes and 11 seconds).
Also standing out for their effort and honor were the Belgian Bert Jammaer (9.05.08) and the German Andreas Boecherer (9.15.53).
The first Canary Islander in the race and sixth in the general ranking was the amateur Gregorio Cáceres from Conejero, who crossed the finish line in less than nine and a half hours (9.25.21), which allowed him to overtake Hektor Llanos from Vitoria (9.26.06), the Argentine Francisco Pontano (9.27.09) and the Finn Teemu Lemmettyla (9.34.06).
The conditions of heat and humidity prevented the champions of 2007 from breaking the records of the Ironman of Lanzarote, which are held by the German Thomas Helriegel (8 hours and 35 minutes) and the American Paula Newby-Fraser (9 hours and 24 minutes).
In the women's category, the winner was the Finnish Tiina Boman, second classified in the 2006 edition, who won her first Ironwoman in Lanzarote and with a mark below ten hours (9.58.41)
The box of honor also gathered the Canadian Tara Norton (10.12.06) and the Dutch Sione Jongstra (10.14.02). Other specialists who stood out were the Germans Urike Schwalbe (10.42.43) and Elena Wagner (10.44.36).
