Famara Total and Lanzarote Summer Challenge bring together more than 1,000 athletes for four days of sporting spectacle in Teguise and Arrecife
The island of Lanzarote brings the last weekend of August to a close in the best possible way, combining sporting disciplines that were perfectly linked to the conclusion of the patron saint festivities, further boosting the sporting and entertainment atmosphere on the coasts of Teguise and Arrecife.
Thus, two competitions of great importance and more than established in the sporting calendar of many athletes from other regional, national and international points, such as the Famara Total and the Lanzarote Summer Challenge, once again met the high expectations, leaving two new editions to remember.
The municipality of Teguise became the focal point of the mountain race, which exceeded 800 participants spread over three days of competition, from the 24th to the 26th of August. Rosa Fontes and Andrés Santana were the first champions of the event, taking gold in the men’s and women’s individual categories of the Famara Total Vertical By European Sports Destination. Atteneri Cel and Sandra Tolosa, as well as Adrián Hernández and Aitami Hernández, did the same in the female and male pairs format, respectively.
The “Carrera Chinija” race took place the following day, with a great spectacle between boys and girls to be followed by Saturday, with the main event of the Famara Total and its four running categories (50, 25, 15 and 7.5km) and hiking. In the 50km race, victory went to Raquel Rivero and Albi Cedrés. In the 25km, the winners were Aurora López and Alejandro Díaz; while Cristina Rosendo and Guillermo Aguilera were the first to complete the 15km; as were Cristina Capitán and Hugo Pérez in the 7.5km course.
Juan Antonio Carreño, “Chico”, the event’s technical director, gave a positive assessment of this edition of the Famara Total, emphasising that it is “an event that remains the leading trail running event in the Canary Islands every summer, not only because of the number of people registered, but also because of the quality of the sporting level. We would like to thank the sponsors, ESD, Lanzarote Island Council and Promotur. We would also like to thank the civil defence, fire brigade and local police for their invaluable collaboration to ensure that everything went according to the established safety standards. In short, for yet another year, we can speak of a successful organisation. Now it is time to reflect and plan improvements for the ninth edition in 2024”.
After this extraordinary atmosphere in Famara, the municipality of Teguise gave the spotlight to the capital of Lanzarote with the equally idyllic settings of the Islote de la Fermina and El Reducto Beach, where the ninth edition of the Lanzarote Summer Challenge was held in Arrecife from 26th to 27th August, bringing together the best crossfit specialists in Europe.
El Reducto Beach took centre stage on the first day of this competition which was divided into Scale, Intermediate, Team Master (couples over 35 years old) and Team RX, the elite category of the competition. The participants had to overcome tough challenges of strength and speed on the beach. Dragging up to 90 kilos of weight across the sand, lifting sandbags weighing up to 80 kilos, running almost a kilometre along the beach and covering a distance by swimming, all in the shortest possible time.
Once at the Fermina and with a full house to greet the competitors, they faced demanding exercises such as pull ups, or the Thrusters, lifting bars of up to 60 kilos over their heads. One of the new features of the edition was the Echo Bikes, the hardest exercise bikes with arm movements in existence. But the challenges did not end there: climbing a rope that was four and a half metres high, walking on their two hands over a distance of five metres, jumping across a rope, or lifting weights of more than 30 kilos. Not forgetting the dreaded burpees, extremely tough exercises in which the athletes combine push-ups with vertical jumps, this time also overcoming a bar on the floor.
On Sunday, the last day of the competition was held with an audience eager to continue watching the great crossfit spectacle they were seeing in the capital of Lanzarote. The athletes only found out about the challenges of the final a few minutes before they faced them. Up to a hundred times they had to throw medicine balls weighing 12 kilos over their heads. In addition, they had to lift 90 kilos of weight from the ground to their shoulders at a dizzying pace. Spectacular was to see them suspended on a bar while pulling their abs to touch the bar with the tip of their toes or facing the demanding burpees.
A final that lived up to expectations and catapulted the winners of this ninth edition of the Lanzarote Summer Challenge. In RX, the main category of the competition, the winners on the men’s podium were Bryan Hernández and Alex de la Guardia (SPF Team), followed by Xevi Serra and Andre Carvalho (Proyect 96) and Diego Fernández and Haren Hair Martínez (Bocaseca). On the women’s podium the winners were Victoria Reyes and Ludivia Ortiz (Manquepierda Team), Andrea Valenciano and Laura Pérez (TC Pump) in second place and Selene Pérez and Nayala Afonso (TTP Girls).
Carmen Vicente Cabañas, director of the Lanzarote Summer Challenge, said that “it has been the best edition so far of this event with a dedicated audience that has accompanied the athletes during the two days of competition and with tests with a high level of demand and showmanship. The spectacle offered this year will be difficult to beat in future editions”.
Two new successes for Lanzarote’s sporting offer with which the maximum guarantees are achieved with the perfect combination of sport, landscape, climate, nature, mountain, beach… and which is enjoyed by both the participating athletes and the fans themselves who do not hesitate to join in a new sporting festival.
