Ironman Lanzarote 2013 by Nicholas Brown

Swim start – 7am

Lanzarote Ironman is the biggest sporting event in the Canary Islands and named the toughest Ironman in the world consisting of a 3.8k swim, 180k bike and 42.2k run. This event gets sold out very quickly and attracts people from all over the world to participate and with more than 1.800 taking part it’s an incredible day for both tri-athletes and spectators.

Winners of 2013 Faris Al-Sultan(GER) 8:42:41 & Kristin Möller (GER) 09:37:35

I had about twenty friends taking part in this year’s event, of which some that have done it several times before and other for their first time, some didn’t start and other weren’t able to finish unfortunately. We had very unusual weather with it raining for the early hours before the 7am swim start and continued for part of the bike course, later on it cleared up being sunny by lunchtime with temperatures of about 26°C.

Swim course: Sea swim two loops of 1.9k in Puerto del Carmen, Playa Grande
(Normally calm water).

Bike course: 1 long loop around the island start/return to Puerto del Carmen
(Most of the roads are in very good condition which makes for a perfect cycling paradise).

Run course: 3 loops, 1 long loop 21.10k, and two 10.55k loops
(Relatively flat course with plenty of support from the crowds and good atmosphere).

This year we saw a special guest Gordon Haller, first Ironman winner in 1978

Stephen Bayliss

Male elite tri-athletes Stephen Bayliss was 1st out of the swim with a swim time of 47:45 closely followed by Faris Al-Sultan 2nd and Philip Graves 3rd

Hanneke De Boer

Female elite tri-athletes Hanneke De Boer 1st out of the swim with a swim time of 54.:06 followed by Saleta Castro 2nd and Melissa Dowell 3rd

Faris Al-Sultan

Faris Al-Sultan – 2005 Ironman world champion.

On the bike course, it changed again with Faris Al-Sutan 1st off the bike, with almost a ten minute lead (4:53:03 cycle leg), followed by Philip Graves 2nd and Miquel Blanchart 3rd

Kirsten Möller – Cycle Leg

Kristin Möller, 1st off the bike with almost a nine minute lead (5:31:47 cycle) followed by Heleen Bij de Vaate 2nd and Saleta Castro 3rd

Bert Jammaer – Double Lanzarote Ironman winner 2008 – 2009

Bert Jammaer did the fastest male run with an incredible 2:50:52 and ended up in 5th place overall. Kristin Möller did the fastest female run with 2:58:37, I believe a new course record on her way to winning the race.

Faris Al-Sultan – Lanzarote Ironman 2013 winner

Overall Faris Al-Sultan held the lead with 1st place and won the race, Miquel Blanchart 2nd and Kirill Kotsegarov grabbing 3rd place by overtaking Philip Graves and holding on by only 8sec.