Santamaría, from Madrid, has won his third title after winning the 2016 and 2018 challenge, while Dutchwoman Kortekaas, currently living in Lanzarote, managed to win for the first time
On Saturday morning, the VIII edition of the Eighth Island Challenge started out with 553 participants eager to face the challenge of La Graciosa while enjoying a great environment that surrounds this sporting event. Stephen Bayliss won the Cross Triathlon with a time of 1:23:29 after completing the kilometer swim, the 20 km mountain biking and 6 km run. Alejandro Santamaría with a time of 01:27:18 and Alexy Perdomo, with a time of 01:31:32, would be the ones to complete the male podium.
In the women’s category, Tessa Kortekaas won with a time of 01:35:06, ahead of Bella Bayliss (01:42:04) and Lucia Funes (01:51:43), which positioned her well to fight for victory at the Eighth Island Challenge, which was completed on Sunday. It included a 31 km trail that competitors had to finish if they wanted to win the challenge.
The resignation of Stephen and Bella Bayliss to participate in the 31 km trail included the loss of two important participants, who were to fight for the title of this edition, and automatically made Alejandro Santamaría and Tessa Kortekaas the top favorites to claim themselves winners of the challenge, as it was finally the case.
Santamaría, from Madrid, had already won the 2016 and 2018 challenges, and this year he did not disappoint the audience since he won, once again, the 31 km trail that took place on Sunday, accumulating a total time at the Eighth Island Challenge of 03:32:21, ahead of Alexy Perdomo with 03:38:13 and Juan José Foulquié with 03:43:39. Kortekaas also confirmed Saturday’s predictions, winning with a total accumulated time in two challenges of 04:04:23. Lucía Funes (04:40:30) and Diana de la Rosa (04:42:39), both from Tenerife, accompanied the Dutchwoman at the women’s podium.
The other trail distances also took place on Sunday, with the 20 km male podium for Rubén Rodríguez (1:24.10), David Arbelo (1:24:37) and Elías Estévez (1:26:17). Cristina Díaz (2:01:26), Raquel Rodríguez (2:04:40) and Lourdes Alonso (2:08:48) completed the female category.
Adrián Hernández (31:15) and María Jesús Díez (42:57) won the 8 km trail, with Jorge Torres (31:16) and Francisco Javier Hernández (32:36) on the podium for male category, and María del Carmen del Pazo (44:29) and Beatrice Lipari (45:02) for female category.
The remaining winners, by age, were David Camejo and Eleonora Scardino (Elite), David Morales and Diana de la Rosa (Master A), Marco Antonio Santana and Icha Quevedo (Master B), and Gonzalo Martín and Juana Teresa Machín (Veteran).
You can find the rankings at the Servicio Insular de Deportes website.
