Lanzarote International Marathon is officially presented at the Cabildo de Lanzarote

This week organisors and local authorities visited Lanzarote Council to present the Lanzarote International Marathon 2013 which will take place on the 8th December.

The press conference took place at Lanzarote Council where the Mayor of Costa Teguise. The Director of the Sports Council, the Director of Tourism for the Canary Island and the Director of Sands Beach Resort and race organisor all gave a speech. The Mayor of Costa Teguise, Oswaldo Betancort, started by showing his appreciation to both the Council and Sands beach Resort for organizing this international event, adding that the City of Costa Teguise will always support this type if venture which is positive for tourism, as has been demonstrated by the present occupancy rate of 92.8%. This kind of sporting activity generates income on the island. Oswaldo also highlighted the other events that support the marathon such as the kids race and the runners fair. Director of Tourism, Juan Armas, noted that sporting events of this nature have a large impact on the tourist industry as the sharing of these events via the use of social media and websites promotes the Canary islands abroad. He went on to say that to achieve an economic success there needs to be a balance between public funding and private company sponsorship. Director of Sands Beach Resort, Juan Carlos Albuixech, thanked the authorities for supporting the event as well as partners Newton Running, Acttiv Holiday, and Mapfre as well as the other 40 plus private companies for making the event possible. For Juan Carlos, the most important thing about the event is that all participants enjoy themselves and return next year. The Lanzarote International Marathon is in its 23rd year. Sands Beach have been organizing the event for the last three of these years and hope to position the race on the calendar for tourists looking for more than sun and sand. This year the event will have more than 1000 participants, 700 of which are visitors to the island. This year the route has had to change because of the road construction across the island. Last year the circuit was adapted so it was suitable for wheelchairs, and was the second largest marathon in Europe (after London). This year has seen a reduction in wheelchair entries, however next year the race will return to the originally planned course and so hopefully the numbers will increase again. Director of sports, Migdalia Machin, closed the presentation by stressing that it is a pleasure to work with Sands Beach Resort, with whom the council works hand in hand and wanted to take the opportunity to thank all the volunteers and emergency services emergency for their collaboration. During the Lanzarote International Marathon there will be some road closures. From 8.45am to 9.30am in Guatiza the roads next to Avenida Garafia will be closed. In Costa Teguise there will be a section of road closed from Los Apartamentos Siroco until Calle El Mástil between the 4th December until the 9th December. There will be further road closures from 9am until 2.30pm including Las Caletas and streets like Las Olas, La Goleta and a stretch of avda. de Las Palmeras. On the day of the event there will be one way traffic around the location of the event in Costa Teguise. Do not forget to follow the event on Twitter.com/lanzmarathon or facebook.com/lanzarotemarathon You can see photos of last year's event in our nuestro Flickr Here we leave a related video: