On Sunday, the second stage of the third edition of the 8th Island Challenge was held in La Graciosa. After Saturday's cross triathlon, the just over 60 competitors who accepted the challenge had to face a 31-kilometer trail race. A trail marked by the harshness of La Graciosa's orography, having to overcome sandy areas that tested the physical endurance of the competitors. Stephen Bayliss and Saleta Catro confirmed the good results achieved on Saturday and after a good trail race climbed to the top of the podium of the third edition of the 8th Island Challenge.
The second stage of the III 8th Island Challenge was reserved for the trail. On the one hand, a 31-kilometer race in which a good part of the athletes who had taken part in the cross triathlon on Saturday and who were facing the 8th Island Challenge (cross triathlon + trail) participated. And on the other hand, a 20-kilometer trail, with the participation of nearly a hundred runners and which was the event with the highest participation throughout the weekend.
In the men's category, the top finishers of Saturday's cross triathlon marked each other throughout the 31 kilometers of the trail. The objective was not to lose too much time with respect to the direct rivals and to continue maintaining the options of winning the absolute victory of the race. The victory in the 31-kilometer trail went to the Spaniard Peru Alfaro (1:58:07), followed closely by the conejero Antonio Alexey Perdomo (1:59:49) and third would be Stephen Bayliss.
The third place achieved by Stephen Bayliss served him to be proclaimed absolute winner of the III 8th Island Challenge, after computing the times of Saturday's cross triathlon and Sunday's trail. The second place on the podium was for Antonio Alexey Perdomo, who could not revalidate the triumph achieved in the last edition. And the third step of the podium was for Viktors Vovrusko.
In the women's category, the absolute dominator of the III 8th Island Challenge was the Galician Saleta Castro. The triathlete spends long stays in Lanzarote, an island that she has chosen as her training base for the entire season. Saleta Castro won the 31-kilometer trail with a time of 2 hours, 21 minutes and 15 seconds. She was eight minutes ahead of Lucía Funes (2:29:30) and third would be Rita Delgado (2:39:23). These same three positions were maintained in the Challenge category, in which the times of the cross triathlon and Sunday's trail were computed.
Jacobo Hernández and Yvonne Van Vlerken win the 20-kilometer trail
The 20-kilometer trail took place in the northern part of La Graciosa, with the starting and finishing point at the Caleta de Sebo pier. Nearly a hundred athletes took the start in this modality, becoming the category with the highest number of participants throughout the weekend.
In the men's category, Jacobo Hernández and Jorge Torres crossed the finish line together, after sharing a good part of the course. The victory went to Jacobo Lemes with a time of 1 hour, 17 minutes and 13 seconds. Jorge Torres recorded the same time in the second position, and third would be Yeray Ramos (1:18:04).
Yvonne Van Vlerken was the winner of the women's category, completing the 20 kilometers of the course in 1 hour, 23 minutes and 35 seconds. The Dutchwoman had participated on Saturday in the cross triathlon, also managing to be among the top three. The podium of the women's category was completed with the second place of Carmen Delia Luz (1:40:53) and third would be Sarah Geraldine (1:40:57).
