The XV Ironman Lanzarote, held this Saturday under intense heat and strong wind throughout the test, repeated the same podium as last year, and it was also the same triathletes who were proclaimed as best Spaniard and best from Lanzarote, so the only novelties in the prominent positions of this test were in women and in terms of the best Canary Islander.
The Estonian Ain Alar Juhanson won the Ironman for the second consecutive year, but improving on this occasion his time from last year, completing the course in 8 hours 54 minutes and 11 seconds (in 2005 he had done it in 8 hours 55 minutes 37 seconds).
The second place was again for the German Steffen Marc Liebetrau, with 8 hours 56 minutes and 32 seconds, also improving his mark from last year, by almost half a minute, while the Belgian Gerrit Schellens once again experienced the sensation of finishing third, with a mark of 9 hours 1 minute 4 seconds, in his case worsening his time from last year.
The fourth classified was in turn the best Spaniard, the Cantabrian Félix Javier Martínez Rubio, with 9 hours 3 minutes 42 seconds. It is the third consecutive year that Martínez Rubio manages to be the best among the Spanish triathletes in the Ironman Lanzarote, although as in the two previous occasions, he finished the test very disappointed with his performance, because he considers that he could have achieved a better position in the general classification. The Cantabrian said that gastroenteritis suffered a few days before this test weakened him, but in any case he announced his retirement from high competition, since he said that he will never again participate in a long-distance test and anticipated that he will not even compete in the Ironman of Hawaii, considered the "world cup" of the Ironmans and for which he has once again obtained a place with this fourth place achieved in Lanzarote.
Women
In women there were novelties, since the winner of the last two years, the Basque Virginia Berazategui, did not participate in this edition, nor did the winner in 2002 and 2003, the Madrid native Maribel Blanco. On this occasion, the triumph was for the triathlete Swiss Karin Thuerig, who thus broke with the Spanish hegemony of the four years previous. Tiina's time was 9 hours 52 minutes 43 seconds. The women's podium was completed by the Finnish Tiina Boman and the Dutch Heleen Bij de Vaate.
Canary Islands Championship
The Ironman Lanzarote is in turn the Canary Islands Triathlon Championship, having resulted winner Fernando Marián de Diego, since he was the best representative of the archipelago in the general classification, in which he in turn finished 18th. This triathlete, originally from Las Palmas de Gran Canaria but representing the Playa Grande de Lanzarote club, marked a time of 9 hours 37 minutes 31 seconds.
Meanwhile, the second Canary Islander is in turn the best from Lanzarote. This is Gregorio Cáceres, with a time of 9 hours 48 minutes 41 seconds, "much better than last year's and what I expected", as he highlighted at the end of the test.
Last year, this triathlete had also been the best from Lanzarote, but on this occasion he could not repeat the title of champion of the Canary Islands that he had achieved in 2005. In the general classification of this XV Ironman Lanzarote, Gregorio Cáceres finished 20th.
Without incidents
The Ironman was developed without any major incident, despite having held the record of participation, with 1,000 registered. Princess Alexia of Greece was in charge of giving, at 7:00 a.m. sharp, the starting signal for the test, on the Playa Grande of Puerto del Carmen, in whose waters the triathletes traveled a circuit of 3.8 kilometers, to then get on the bicycle and do 180 kilometers almost all along and wide of the island, and finally travel 42.2 kilometers on foot on the Avenida de las Playas of Puerto del Carmen, where some 9,000 people, according to the organizers, witnessed the end of this test.
This Sunday the awards ceremony was held at the Monumento al Campesino, also with the presence of Princess Alexia of Greece, who has been the honorary president of the XV Ironman Lanzarote.
