Lanzarote for sportsmen

LANZAROTE ERLEBEN - Sports - general

Last Updated (Wednesday, 26 January 2011 18:07) Written by Administrator Wednesday, 26 January 2011 17:25

Lanzarote is a paradise for sport lovers. Almost all the larger hotels and some apartment complexes have their own sports facilities. There are tennis courts, some floodlit, squash courts, volleyball fields and bowling alleys. You can hire bicycles and fly a kite, ride, climb, and play golf or darts, and there is also archery. But the most popular sports are of course water sports:

Deep-sea angling: You can go out on deep-sea angling trips to catch tuna, bonitos, barracuda, sharks, marlin and wahoo. The most prized catch is a swordfish. Please inquire at your own reception.

Sailing: If you want to hire a sailing boat, inquire at Catlanza in Puerto Calero. Tel. 928 51 30 22. Fax 928 51 10 01.

Wind-surfing: The Canary Isles waters are well-known as good wind-surfing. There are wind-surfing schools at the Playa de las Cucharas on the Costa Teguise, at the Playa de Matagorda in Puerto del Carmen, and at the Playa Blanca. The La Santa sports facility, which has a lake, is ideal for learners.

Diving: There are diving bases in Costa Teguise, Arrieta, La Santa, Puerto del Carmen, Puerto Calero, Playa Quemada and Playa Blanca. These are kept by diving schools. If you want to go in for independent diving, you should first inquire about currents. Underwater hunting is not permitted along all stretches of the coast, compressed-air har­poons are completely prohibited. Give the physallia carabella (a kind of jellyfish), which comes sometimes close to the cost during the summer, a wide berth. Its stings, 6–7 cm in length, are caustic to the touch, and can cause paralysis. The islanders treat the burns with garlic and onion juice. You should also beware of the moray, whose blood and bites are venomous. There are no dangerous sharks close to the coast. The thornback ray has a span of up to 2.5 m and is fascinating to watch.

Surfing: There are good conditions for surfing on the north coast of Lanzarote, at the Playa de Famara by La Santa and at the Playa de la Cantería by Orzola. On the east coast, only the coastline between Punta de Mujeres and Los Jameos del Agua is worth mentioning.

The ECONATURA group offers a wide range of adventure, sports, and leisure activities, supervised by well-trained young people. The focus is on active tourism that respects the environment. You can take part in the following activities: walk­ing, kayaking, archery, fishing, mountain-biking, climbing, rid­ing and others. ECONATURA, on the main road between Mala and Arrieta. Tel. 928 17 31 06.

Canary Island sports:

The Canary Islanders love football and Vela Latina. A form of pole-vault known as salto del regatón has developed on La Palma. Lucha canaria, or Canary Island wrestling, is wide­spread on all the islands except Gomera.

Lucha canaria:

The lucha canaria is reminiscent of Celtic wrestling, but this particular type is known only on the Canary Islands. According to some sources, the sport was practised in Egypt. At the very least, there are some parallels in the reliefs of Beni Hassan,which depict situations in a wrestling match. It is a martial art typical of the Ancient Canarians, who liked to test their strength a their festivals – and present-day islanders still do. The lucha canaria is held at every fiesta, on a ­ground called the terrero. This is a double ring with a floor of hardtrodden earth or sawdust. The inner ring measures 10 me­tres, the outer ring 11. The wrestlers are called pollos (fighting cocks); successfull ones are worshipped like football stars. They wear thin shirts and short trousers of linen, with the legs rolled up. The adversary grips hold of these trousers. The po­llos fight barefoot. The fight is fair, as the opening ritual proves. Each team consists of eleven fighters. There is a maximum of three rounds, each round lasting three minutes at the most. The winner is the one who throws his opponent twice. This has to be inside the inner ring, or between the inner and outer rings pro­vided the winner remains inside the inner ring. The victor can continue fighting for up to three more fights. Each fighter has to fight every member of the op­posing team. The best have a mastery of all the 43 holds that are allowed – beginners have to have a command of five holds.

Stick game: The stick game has also been handed down from the Ancient Canarians. The aim of the stick fighters used to be to defend themselves against at­tack without killing or seriously injuring their opponents. There are two different types: fencing with flexible rods known as varas, and fencing with rough sticks called palos. The players’ feet are not allowed to move from the spot, so the players can only parry blows or bend their upper bodies to avoid being hit. All in all, fighters are supposed to move their bodies as little as possible during the fights. Only men use the varas, while in the palos fights, there may be matches between men and women.

Last Updated (Thursday, 02 December 2010 16:18) Written by Administrator Thursday, 02 December 2010 16:15

The Tourism Councillor of the Canarian Government, Rita Martín, gave the starting signal for the 1,405 competitors of the triathlon. The Ironman is one of the nicest and also hardest competitions worldwide.

The Scot, Catriona Morrison was the leading lady of this competition. Although she suffered a flat tyre on her bike and lost 40 minutes, she reached the finnish after 10 hours, 3 minutes and 52 seconds as the first one. Second place was won by Louise Collins and third was Nicole Woysch.

Amongst the men the Spanish Eneko Llanos won the race after having had a hard competition at the marathon with the last year's winner Bert Jammaer who finished second. Third was the German Maik Twelsick. (25.5.10/LoBo)