The ninth edition of the Lanzarote Summer Challenge already has its winners, they are the couples formed by Bryan Hernández and Alejandro de la Guardia and by Victoria Reyes and Ludivia Ortiz, the male and female champions of the RX category, the main event of the competition, which held some heart-stopping finals this Sunday in the privileged enclave of the Islote de Fermina, in the Lanzarote capital of Arrecife.
Crowded stands, sun and spectacular atmosphere for the grand finals of the Lanzarote Summer Challenge 2023. A final qualifying exercise decided the finalists first thing in the morning. The public vibrated watching the athletes climb a rope four and a half meters high at lightning speed or walk on their own hands doing a handstand, with a 360 degree turn included in their route.
The athletes knew the challenges of the final just minutes before facing them. Muscles in tension and strength to the limit to decide the winners of the ninth edition of this demanding sports competition. They have had to throw 12-kilo medicine balls over their heads up to a hundred times, a challenge for the shoulders and arms of these titans. 90 kilos of weight on the bars that they had to raise from the ground to their shoulders at a dizzying pace, 110 kilos in the case of the exercise in which the bar exceeded their heads.
Spectacular to see them suspended on a bar while pulling their abs to touch the bar with the tip of their feet or facing the demanding burpees. Today strength, endurance and speed prevailed, because only the fastest could get on the podium. Time became the determining factor in the case of the girls in the absolute category, RX, when the couple that remained in first position, Victoria Reyes and Ludivia Ortiz, and the second, Laura Pérez and Andrea Valenciano, were barely 30 seconds apart to complete the final challenge. It only took 11:06 minutes for the champions in the men's category, Bryan Hernández and Alex de la Guardia, to be crowned winners in the final event, closely followed by Xevi Serra and Andre Carvalho.
This is how the general classification has been: RX, the main category of the competition, on the men's podium the winners were the Lanzarote native Bryan Hernández and the Gran Canaria native Alex de la Guardia (SPF Team), followed by the Catalans Xevi Serra and Andre Carvalho (Proyect 96) and the Granada native Diego Fernández and Haren Hair Martínez (Bocaseca). On the women's podium, the champions were the Canarian Victoria Reyes and Ludivia Ortiz (Manquepierda Team), Andrea Valenciano and Laura Pérez (TC Pump) in second place and Selene Pérez and Nayala Afonso (TTP Girls).
Podium of the Team Master category: the winning couple was the one formed by Mihaela Veltan and José Carlos González (SNY/ La Jaula Team), in second place, David Hernández and Lian María Ramos (Ready to Wod) and in third position, Eva de la Guardia and Adrián Rodríguez (Higo Pico y Flagüer).
Female Intermediate category, number one position for Claudia Cabrera, second position for Saray Ramos and third place for Liana González. In the Male Intermediate category, the winners were Alessandro Duse, Jonay Pérez and in third position Karim El Madmadi. In the female Scale category, the first place was for Lilia Iris Olaffson, followed by Valeria Gómez and Melania Camacho. In the male Scale category, the podium was made up of Yose Ibañez in first position, Luis Yamir Morales in second and Moisés Vázquez in third place.
After the competition, the awards ceremony took place with the presence of the Minister of Sports of the Cabildo de Lanzarote, Juan Monzón, María Martín, head of product for European Sports Destination, the second deputy mayor of the Arrecife City Council, Roberto Herbón and the Councilor for Emergencies and Security of the Arrecife City Council, Kevin Cortés.
In the words of the Minister of Sports of the Cabildo de Lanzarote, Juan Monzón, “this event brings outdoors a discipline that is traditionally carried out inside gyms and does so here, in this privileged enclave of the Islote de la Fermina and Playa de El Reducto, where we have also been able to enjoy a very exciting show with an incredible competitive level worldwide.”
María Martín, head of product for European Sport Destination, emphasized that “there are 50,000 CrossFit centers, precisely in the five most important issuing countries for the island, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Spain and Italy and more than three million practitioners throughout Europe, so events like this help us attract all those tourists who love this discipline, to come and train at the island's boxes, to our beaches... it is a privilege to have this event.”
For Roberto Herbón, second deputy mayor of the Arrecife City Council, “it is a luxury to have such a sporting event, with enormous economic potential,” for what the arrival of “athletes from all over the world, accommodation, rental cars, hospitality... in an emblematic place, in addition, an unbeatable location, so we thank the organization for continuing to count on Arrecife.” The director of the Lanzarote Summer Challenge 2023, Carmen Vicente, summarized by saying “that it has undoubtedly been the best of all the editions we have held so far, both due to the enormous competitive level of the participants, as well as the public attendance and the organizational capacity,” adding also that “we are going to continue working to make this competition bigger and bigger.”
