Andi Boecherer and Michelle Vesterby, the fastest athletes at the XXIX IRONMAN Lanzarote
Nearly a thousand “men and women of iron” took part in the event, which marked a return to normality for one of the island’s major sporting events. After the cancellation in 2020 due to the pandemic, the Ironman Lanzarote event again took place last Saturday with the participation of around 1,000 triathletes from more than 50 countries in five continents.
The XXIX edition of what has undoubtedly been the sporting event par excellence on the Island of Volcanoes in recent decades had a special impact as it has shown the whole world that Lanzarote offers maximum health guarantees, ensuring that for visitors it is that safe destination – as it always was – against Covid-19.
The German Andi Boecherer and the Dane Michelle Vesterby were proclaimed winners of the twenty-ninth edition of the Ironman Lanzarote, held last Saturday, which meant a return to normality for one of Lanzarote’s great sporting events.
The event kicked off at Playa Grande at 07:00, in Puerto del Carmen. About a thousand participants left on a staggered start to comply with the established protocols. On this occasion, there were four different starts to avoid crowds in the swim, and all of this took place under the watchful eye of hundreds of fans from the promenade.
The heat, the wind and the haze were the big rivals the triathletes had to face to complete a course made up of a 3.8 kilometre swim, 180 kilometre bike ride and the final 42.2 kilometre run.
Andi Boecherer took the lead in the running segment of the race after an excellent cycling segment in which he set the third fastest time. The German crossed the finish line as the winner with a time of 8 hours, 34 minutes and 11 seconds.
Fellow German Boris Stein (08:42:03) took second place, almost eight minutes behind his compatriot, who he was unable to keep up with on the run. The podium was completed by South African Matt Trautman in third place (08:43:00).
In the women’s category, France’s Manon Genet led for much of the race and built up a seven-minute lead on the bike. Denmark’s Michelle Vesterby showed her great power in the run to take her second victory in the Lanzarote race with a time of 9 hours, 55 minutes and 4 seconds.
Great Britain’s Laura Siddall (09:55:51) pushed the winner all the way through the run, but had to settle for second place after coming in just under a minute behind her at the finish line. Third place on the podium went to France’s Justine Mathieux (09:57:16).
As usual, the XXIX Ironman Lanzarote, the first to be held this year in Europe, will serve to qualify for the World Championship in Hawaii, with 40 qualifying places awarded over the different age groups.
