Quality home from home holiday apartment rental accommodation
16/05/2025
Best wishes to everyone involved in the massive Ironman event from Mellowes Lanzarote Apartment Rentals
Short read : Lanzarote, Ironman, Protests and Lava...
The super-humans will take over Lanzarote this Saturday. Ironman is a brutal yet beautiful course through Lanzarote’s volcanic terrain. The Ironman route combines a 3.8 km ocean swim, a 180 km mountain bike ride, and a scorching coastal marathon!!! Wowzers.
If you're here with us and not spectating or participating you'll find many road closures and most tours altered or cancelled for the day. The route covers much of the island and takes some time of course! Wow, we do NOT know how they do it. Even the training looks gruelling.
A qualifying event for the Ironman World Championship in Kona, Hawaii, Lanzarote Ironman is considered one of the toughest in the world and dates all the way back to 1992. Not without its controversy for the degree of resident blockages across the route, the challenge is still quite incredible.
What you might not know:
Lanzarote’s lava absorbs heat. The black volcanic ground heats up dramatically, making the bike and run feel hotter than the air temperature, sometimes burning athletes’ shoes and feet through the soles.
You race against the wind as much as people. The island’s notorious crosswinds are so strong that pro triathletes sometimes have to pedal downhill just to stay upright.
Locals cheer with cowbells, whistles… and goats. In remote villages, locals have been known to bring livestock to the roadside and bang pots or shout from rooftops to cheer athletes on. We're quite special here jaja!
Best of luck to all competing and managing the spectacle, may the gods of the volcanos be with you.
Worth noting that Sunday, May 18, 2025, the day after the Ironman race, the demonstration “Canarias Tiene un Límite” — which translates to “The Canary Islands Have a Limit” will take place at 11:00 AM at the Quiosco de la Música in Arrecife. The main aims of that demonstration (which will be peaceful, it always is here) are to address the needs of local housing, transport, fair pay and of course a balance between tourism and the wellbeing of islanders.
It’s a peaceful call for balance, asking for sustainable tourism that protects the islands locals and visitors both love. We've covered the reasoning before (scroll back a bit through out posts) but we fully support the demonstration. It's likely that we and many of our resident Canarian friends will not be able to afford to stay much longer unless ideas come to fruition.
While triathletes test their limits, islanders defend theirs, both chasing balance on an incredible but scorching land.
Love from Lanzarote.
PS there are unlikely to be any road closures outside of the capital on Sunday, only on the Saturday event. If you are moving around the rock on Saturday, check the maps on the Ironman website and social media. Beach resorts will all be walkable and there are plenty of places to watch (including the Sunday protests if you like, we welcome you).
