Gran Canaria Marathon 2014

The fifth edition of Gran Canaria Marathon was run in the capital city of the island, Las Palmas, on the 26th January. Nearly 6000 runners had entered the race, the half marathon and 10 km distances being the more popular events.

The course is designed to be fast and furious, it passes through most of the attractive areas of the city. The 10 km course was a loop around the city and the historic old town whereas the 21 km course took the runners further along the sea line and through the beautiful beach front promenade Las Canteras before joining the 10 km loop back in the city. Marathoners had the pleasure of running the picturesque 21 km loop twice.

The fields were competitive in all the distances

The men’s 10 km race was won by the young and promising talent from Norway, Tore Dybdahl Burgos, in 32:14, edging only Francisco Cabrera Galindo by 4 seconds. Beatriz Esteban Molinero and Alexandra Schaller dominated the women’s field with both athletes finishing under 38 minutes with the 3rd placed finisher more than 2 minutes in arrears. Molinero’s winning time was 37:11.

In the half marathon, Jose Carlos Hernández Cabrera from Lanzarote, took the lead early and maintained it to the finish, to win the race in 64:49, well ahead of 2nd placed Óscar Fernández Giralda in 70:40. Giraldi managed to finish 19 seconds ahead of 3rd placed Samuel Chávez Torres, who’s time was 70:59.

Dutch triathlete, Yvonne Van Vlerken, was dominant in the women’s field which on the day was very competitive and won in handy 78:39 ahead of Tamara Sanfabio Rodríguez in 80:27. Patricia Diaz Perea, Ana Toral Quiroga and Anna Celinska were close together at the finish and provided the spectators real race drama. Diaz Perea managed to take the third place while the next two finishers, Toral Quiroga and Celinska, were locked together in the same finishing time of 81:38.

The Women’s half marathon was extremely competitive with this race reporter in 15th place despite a time of 92:17. – My First Half Marathon Experience

Ireland takes top spot in Marathon

The full marathon was won by the Irish runner, Eoin Flynn in 2:29:15, going under the 2:30 barrier to give the race respectability considering the €700 first prize. He beat Miguel Angel Vaquero Agama of Tenerife by just over a minute. Philippa Taylor from England dominated the women’s marathon. Taylor crossed the line in 2:54:31 well ahead of Heini Papinsaari of Finland, who did well to get the second place and ran a PB of 3:18:29.

While the rest of Europe is experiencing the coldest months of the year. Gran Canaria, in January, offers ideal, spring like, conditions for the runners. So why not include a marathon, half or a 10km to your winter training schedule and combine it to a holiday in the sun?

Gran Canaria marathon hopes to join the list of other major international city marathons in Spain, and to attract runners from all over the world to make this marathon an important highlight of the running calendar.

image used for editorial purposes only: credit – hobbyathletes.com

RESULTS

Marathon

Male
1 Eoin Flynn            2:29:15
2 Miguel Angel Vaquero Agama    2:30:43
3 Manel Tornero Arago        2:34:07

Female
1 Philippa Taylor        2:54:31
2 Heini Papinsaari        3:18:29
3 Cristina Würgler        3:20:25

Half Marathon

Male
1 Jose Carlos Hernández Cabrera    1:04:49
2 Óscar Fernández Giralda    1:10:40
3 Samuel Chávez Torres         1:10:59

Female
1 Yvonne Van Vlerken        1:18:39
2 Tamara Sanfabio Rodríguez    1:20:27
3 Patricia Diaz Perea        1:21:35
4 Ana Toral Quiroga        1:21:38
5 Anna Celinska            1:21:38

10 km

Male
1 Tore Dybdahl             32:14
2 Francisco Cabrera Galindo    32:18
3 Juan Jesus Casanova Barroso    32:28

Female
1 Beatriz Esteban Molinero    37:11
2 Alexandra Schaller        37:30
3 Patricia De La Llave Herron    40:17