Photos: Sergio Betancort
The Lanzarote trail party could not have started in a better way. In a departure that will go down in history, with 300 camels and the Timanfaya National Park as witnesses, which offered an image that in a few hours has gone around the world due to its differential originality. At 07:15 on Saturday, more than 150 runners faced the 102 kilometers that separated them from the municipality of Haría, in the north of Lanzarote, crossing the wildest landscapes of the island.
In the Cicar Ultra category of the Haría Extreme, the absolute champion was Remi Queral, with a time of 09:33:54, followed by Efrén Segundo (09:50:30), and in third position David Lutzardo (10:02:49). In the women's category, the Polish Magdalena Laczak swept from the beginning, finishing in the Top ten of the general classification. The arrivals of the rest of the runners are pending, in order to know the final classification. The entry of the last runner of the Ultra is scheduled for 5:00 am on Saturday to Sunday.
The marathon category was the most popular of the event. Among the almost 400 runners who started from the Plaza de Haría, the fastest was Paco Mendoza from Murcia, consolidating a year marked by successes and establishing himself in the second position of the Spain Ultra Cup M, the circuit that experienced its penultimate event of the year in Lanzarote. It was precisely in the emblematic climb to Guinate where Mendoza overtook the first four classified, proving to be the strongest in the "paredón" of the rope. In second position was Estanislao Rivero from Gran Canaria, with an extraordinary race, while Esteban García completed the podium, adding some necessary points to revalidate his title as champion of the Canary Islands mountain races.
In the women's category, two annual titles were also defined. Laia Cañes from Castellón, after her participation in the ultra-distance trail world championship, imposed her law and was proclaimed, definitively, champion of the Spain Ultra Cup M with a year marked by four victories in the circuit. The Gran Canaria runner Yaiza Herrera will also lift a long-awaited trophy tomorrow at the awards ceremony in the Jameos del Agua auditorium, who also repeats her triumph in the Canary Islands Mountain Race Cup thanks to the second position in the marathon. The Belgian Dominique Van Mechgelen, based in Gran Canaria, crossed the finish line with the third best female mark.
The initiation categories also added a colorful note to this Haría Extreme Lanzarote 2016. The medium, of 23 kilometers, was headed by León Martin Drajer, Javi Sosa and Jorge Sánchez in the men's category, while in a very tight women's fight it was the British Laura Mulcahy who would take the cake, with only a few seconds of difference over the Venezuelan Erika Blanco and the Irish Jill Horan. The Starter, of 10 kilometers, was dominated by the Austrian Andreas Tomann and María Arribas from Madrid.
