The bay of Arrecife hosted the ICF Canoe Ocean Racing World Championship, in which Nicolas Notten and Michele Burn were proclaimed winners
Arrecife’s Islote de la Fermina was inaugurated with the opening ceremony of the first ICF Canoe Ocean Racing World Championship, a sporting event in which the South Africans Nicolas Notten and Michele Burn won gold medals.
The event generated high expectations on the island and was organised by the Lanzarote Marlines Canoe Club, together with the Canary Islands Canoe Federation and with the support of the International Canoe Federation, the Royal Spanish Canoe Federation and the Higher Council of Sports.
The competition, which started from the beach of La Garita (Arrieta) and finished on the beach of El Reducto (Arrecife), covering a distance of 27 kilometres along the coast of Lanzarote, brought together 240 paddlers from 22 countries.
South African Michelle Burn won in the women’s category, with the most outstanding performance from the Spanish competitors being that of the Catalan Judit Vergés, who is based in the Canary Islands and won the bronze medal.
The Spanish canoeing team won 3 medals at this 2021 Canoe Ocean World Championships, with Judit Vergés winning bronze in the senior category, while in the junior category Jorge Enríquez came second and Irene Gana third.
The competition was divided into two titles: 2021 ICF Canoe Ocean Racing World Championships 2021 and ICF Masters Canoe Ocean Racing World Championships. In each of them, men and women participated in the Surfski modality.
In the case of the former, there were three categories: Junior Men and Women, U23 Men and Women and Senior Men and Women, while in the latter the single category was Masters Men and Women.
27 kilometres of colour in a crossing that enjoyed the quality of the waters and an alliance with the wind.
Thanks to this and other events, sport continues to grow in Lanzarote, despite the impediments presented by the pandemic. The Cabildo de Lanzarote had prepared the Islote de la Fermina to host this event, so athletes could be provided with services such as parking and a storage area for boats, security, cafeteria, medical centre and stands, among other facilities.
On Saturday, El Reducto beach was the setting for the official training sessions for the athletes of 26 nationalities who competed in the waters of El Reducto in the ICF Canoe Ocean Racing World Championships.
This simple act saw the participation of other relevant sports authorities related to the Championship, supported by the Lanzarote Marlines Canoe Club, the Canary Islands Canoe Federation, the International Canoe Federation, the Royal Spanish Canoe Federation and the Higher Council of Sports.
All those present were pleased to see the island turned into the world headquarters of canoeing, focussing on the continuity provided by future competitions, given the excellent conditions offered by the coast of Lanzarote. The Cabildo de Lanzarote, the island’s main government body, has already expressed its willingness to collaborate in future events.
Sea canoeing is one of the specialities with “many possibilities” to be “discussed” as an addition to the Olympic competition programme in Los Angeles 2028, according to the president of the International Canoe Federation (ICF), José Perurena.
