Photos: Sergio Betancort
The Ironman Lanzarote machinery is already running. Within the parallel activities, the traditional Ironkids, a race aimed at children from 7 to 17 years old, was held on Friday afternoon. The future triathletes of Ironman Lanzarote enjoyed the event, although on this occasion they could not perform the swimming segment for security reasons.
The Ironkids is usually held in the aquathlon mode, with a swimming segment and two running segments. The wind blowing in the Matagorda area, in Puerto del Carmen, and the waves, prevented the swimming segment from being held for security reasons. So the Ironkids was a running race on Matagorda Avenue with distances adapted to the different age groups.
More than 200 young people participated in this edition of the Ironkids. The participants were divided into five age groups, with different races being held for the pre-Benjamin (36), Benjamin (64), Alevin (67), Infantil (42) and Cadets (25) categories. In total, 234 minors participated on Friday afternoon in the Ironkids.
The pre-Benjamin category would complete a 250-meter course. The victory went to Jake Timmons (Bayliss Multisport) and Iballa Rodríguez. The male podium was completed with the second position of Enea Cucchetti and the third place of Charlie Bayliss. In the female category, the second position was for Lucía Madrid and the third would be Isabella Hodskinson.
The distance was increased to 500 meters for the 64 participants in the Benjamin category. Álvaro Aier Pérez (Club Mencey) took the victory in the male category, ahead of Rodrigo Callero and Martín Rodbourn, second and third, respectively. Nataska Ivancikova (Bayliss Multisport) took the victory in the female category, with Marta Prieto second and Ariadne Soto third.
The triathletes in the Alevin category had to complete a 1,000-meter course and it was the most participatory category with 67 registered. Lucas García (Club Triatlón Compostela) took the victory, beating Dominik Ivancik and Diego Montero by a few seconds. The victory in the female category was for Carla De Marco (Bayliss Multisport), with Julia González completing the podium in second place and Mar Gómez in third place.
The Infantil category was more demanding with a 2,000-meter course, with the athletes having to complete two laps of the circuit designed on Matagorda Avenue. Alejandro Ibarra (CN Nadamás) won on the finish line in the sprint, with Pedro Morales in second position and Javier Cabrera in third place. In the female category, the victory went to Leah Hoole, ahead of Kennedy Denby and Rebecca Rowe, second and third, respectively.
The Ironkids closed with the Cadet race and a total course of 3,000 meters. The triumph was for Harry Holdaway (Bayliss Multisport), ahead of Jaime Blázquez and Jorge Wilkes. Leila Thom (Bayliss Multisport) took the triumph in the female category, with Laura Armas in second place and Helena De Castro in third position.
The Ironkids closed with the presentation of medals to the top three classified in the Infantil and Cadet categories. An event that was attended by Lorenzo Reyes, Sports Councilor of the Cabildo de Lanzarote, and Fabio Cabrera, sports director of Ironman Lanzarote. Both were in charge of handing over the "finishers" medal to all the boys and girls who crossed the finish line of their respective categories.