More than 400 athletes from 31 countries have registered for the sixth edition of the Ironman 70.3 Lanzarote, which will start this Saturday, September 2, at 7:30 am, from the lake of La Santa. Participants must swim 1.9 kilometers, cycle 90 kilometers and run 21.1, that is, a total of 113 kilometers, which is equivalent to about 70.3 miles, hence the name of this event organized by Club La Santa and Cabildo de Lanzarote and covering half the distance of an Ironman.
Among the favorites of this sixth edition of the Ironman 70.3 Lanzarote are the Belgian Kenneth Vandendriessche, runner-up last year, as well as the South African James Cunnama and the Italian De Gasperi, winners of the recently held Ironman Hamburg 2017 and the Ironman Lanzarote 2015, respectively. In the women's category, the presence of the British Lucy Charles, current champion of the Ironman Lanzarote, stands out, who will have as main rivals a priori the Belgian Alexandra Tondeur, the Danish Jenny Schultz and the German Anne Haug.
The Sports Councilor of the first island corporation, Patricia Pérez, presented this Tuesday the event accompanied by the managing director of Tourism Lanzarote, Héctor Fernández, and the representative of Club La Santa, Kenneth Gasque, who in turn is director of the Ironman 70.3 Lanzarote, qualifying event for the World Championship of this sport that will be held next year in South Africa.
Traffic cuts
After thanking sponsors, collaborators, security and emergency forces and volunteers for their contribution to the celebration of the event, Patricia Pérez apologized, while thanking "residents and the population in general who are affected by traffic restrictions vehicles to which traffic regulations require, for security reasons, during the development of the bicycle segment", which will consist of a 60-kilometer circuit between Club La Santa and Uga, and another 30 kilometers between Club La Santa and Mancha Blanca.
The councilor explained that the Cabildo has sent a letter to the residents of the sections that must remain closed to traffic where they are informed of the closing times, the alternatives offered in each case, the information telephone numbers prior to the test (928 599 995 extension 4422 and 928 810 100 extension 2187, as well as the telephone numbers of the advanced command post, from where information will be provided during the celebration of the same, which are 686 299 539 and 650 572 317.
In this sense, between 07.30 and 13.00 hours will be affected, from the roundabout of Club La Santa, various sections that run through Soo and Muñique; between 07.30 and 12.45 hours the towns of Tiagua, La Vegueta and Capellanía will be affected; and between 07.30 and 11.00 hours those of Mancha Blanca, Tinguatón, La Geria and Uga.
Turn the island "into a world reference"
The managing director of Turismo Lanzarote, Héctor Fernández, described the Ironman 70.3 Lanzarote as one of the "standard" tests of the European Sports Destination project, promoted by Turismo Lanzarote-Sociedad de Promoción Exterior de Lanzarote (SPEL), "in order to turn the island into a world reference in terms of an ideal tourist destination related to sports practice". "Objective that we are undoubtedly achieving thanks to the celebration of events as important as the one we will have the opportunity to enjoy this Saturday", he added.
Along the same lines, Kenneth Gasque spoke, who made special mention and thanks to the volunteers and encouraged all those who want to participate in the test as volunteers to contact the Cabildo de Lanzarote through the telephone 928 810 100 (extension 2187) or with Club La Santa through the email eventos@clublasanta.com.
It is expected that around 11.40 hours the winner of the test will cross the finish line located in the stadium of Club La Santa, the place of start and finish of the third and last segment, the half marathon, in which the runners must give three laps to a circuit of just over 7 kilometers that as usual will reach the town of La Santa.
