Lanzarote Information

A week to go before Lanzarote’s Ironman event on Saturday 22nd May 2010. This year is the 19th edition with 1,571 triathletes from 28 countries participating:

Spain 495

United Kingdom 346

Germany 227

France 109

Others 394

For 2010 there are some course changes, the cycle route has a shorter exit from Puerto del Carmen and a diversion at Nazaret through Teguise before heading to San Bartolomé and La Geria. The marathon course will be three loops not four, the first of which has been extended around the airport runway to Playa Honda, the second two loops will turn at Matagorda as per previous years.

The Race

The start is at 07:00 on Playa Grande in Puerto del Carmen, the athletes will complete two loops of the swim course totalling 3.8km which has to be completed before the cut off at 09:20.

Racing up the beach fresh from their swim the athletes head for the transition area where they emerge on their bikes, the first bike is expected to leave at 07:50 and the pro cyclists should start to reach the following points in the 180km bike course by these times:

08.30 Yaiza

09.00 El Golfo

09.45 Tinajo

10.00 Famara

10.30 Teguise

11.00 Mirador de Haria

11.45 Mirador del Rio

12.00 Arrieta

12.15 Mala

12.30 Nazaret - towards Teguise again

12.45 Puerto del Carmen

Please, if you are driving on this day take extreme caution when overtaking the cyclists, the roads remain open during the race. The bike course closes at 18:30, any athletes that haven’t finished the section by this point are eliminated. Again the transition takes place at the finish line situated at Playa Grande, here the athletes will park their bikes and begin the final stage with a full marathon of 42.2km.

At this point the athletes have been on the go from 7am that morning, they have completed 3.8km swim, 180km bike route and have a grim determination to finish the marathon section so if you’re in Puerto del Carmen, give them a cheer or a clap as they go past you! The pros normally take just under 9 hours to complete the event so expect to see them crossing the finish line from around 15:30 onwards, the remainder who made it through the first two cut offs have until midnight to cross the finish line.

Who to watch out for

From the pros both Bert Jammaer (No 1) and Bella Bayliss (No 33) are here to defend their champion titles from 2008 & 2009. Eneko Llanos (No 2) who won in 2007 and Gregorio Cáceres Morales (No 4) are the Spanish favourite contenders. Stephen Bayliss (No 5) and Ain-Alar Juhanson (No 7) who won in 2005 & 2006 will also be pushing for a win. Hillary Biscay (No 35) and Catriona Morrison (No 40) will be pushing to beat Bella for a win in Lanzarote.

Pro Men 32

Pro Women 16

Age Group Men 1397

Age Group Women 126

Total Participating Ironman Lanzarote 2010: 1571

From the age groupers? Well they’re all heroes in my book! The oldest participants are both from the UK - Richard Lake (No 1571) a fitness instructor aged 71 and Edwina Brocklesby (No 174) a social worker aged 67. The youngest competitors are both from Spain – Mingui Domingo Perez Garcia (No 175) aged 20 a maintenance worker and Cristina Prat Dot (No 49) a student aged 22. Keep an eye out for Peter “Dinky” Dalkin (No 1570) who will be giving Richard Lake a run for his money as the next oldest competitor and a regular at the Lanzarote sporting events. A special mention to Ralph McKinnon (No 1111) who was a NF on his first Ironman attempt in 2009 – I want to see you crossing the line this year :) and Chris Boyce (No 298) from the University of Warwick who decided after completing his PhD in Psychology (majoring on how economics influence an individual’s health and happiness) that the next challenge was “The World’s Toughest Ironman”, not forgetting Daz the Lanzarote palm tree man (No 610) a local resident competing for the first time.

The full list of Ironman Lanzarote 2010 competitors can be downloaded as an attachment below, its listed in age group & competitor number order. To read more about the individuals who participate in the Ironman Lanzarote, read our interviews with:

Bella Bayliss – Winner 2008 & 2009

Gordon Hutton – Waited 15 years to participate 2009

Darren Blockley – First Time Competitor 2010 & Lanzarote Resident

Weather Forecast

Our 15 day Lanzarote weather forecast is showing a general forecast of a warm sunny day with light winds from the North, Windguru only shows a forecast up to Friday 21st at the moment but perfect Ironman conditions with low wind, warm but with high cloud cover.

Have you got a family member or friend taking part? Give them a shout out below in comments…….