Guest Post: 2021 Lanzarote Marathon Cancelled ...by Alex O'Shea

The 30th anniversary edition of the Lanzarote marathon has been cancelled a few weeks before runners and organizers take to the start line.

While runners count the cost of flights accommodation and the missed opportunity to run a Marathon with only a month to go. 

For many this will echo memories of all the canceled events over the last while due to various outside pressures placed on event organizers.

I can only imagine this is a huge upset for all parties involved and would not be a decision that was taken lightly by the organizers after all this was not just any year this was to be the 30th anniversary of the Lanzarote marathon.

For anyone that has participated in this event in the past you will know the organizing committee and army of volunteers put 110% into this event hosting various distances 10km 1/2 marathon marathon  with even races for the kids as they get to run down the iconic finishing straight. It is the energy & passion of the organizers that makes this a great event  (and the winter sunshine of course) because of this, it has for many become an annual pilgrimage.

I can only imagine the work that they put in to keep the event on track up to the final hour as it were.

I know this year they scaled it back to just a marathon event to comply with various conditions. They had to meet and overcome condition after condition for an event to happen and finally given the current climate it became no longer possible to ensure they could host a safe fun enjoyable event. I am sure the cancellation was done after every possibility to hold a safe event was exhausted.

Again I know this is not a decision anybody wants to make and the team are no doubt feeling deflated and upset. I have ran this event a few times and  the volunteers endlessly cheered us all on applauded each and everyone and  shared the highs they lived for race day to see our dreams come true. 

So today I say thank you to each and everyone of the team that tried so so hard to host this year's event  and hopefully we will share some more amazing memories soon.

Hopefully we will see this event back in the future.

Nollaigh O'Neill from Cork wins Lanzarote Marathon

The annual Lanzarote International Marathon was held in the Canary Islands on Saturday the 10th of December 2016 and the winner of the women's race was Nollaigh O'Neill from Leevale AC in Cork!

Nollaigh's time was 3 hours, 1 minute and 43 seconds. Nollaigh is no stranger to this event having won it twice already in 2013 and 2015.

The winner of the men's race was Gary O'Hanlon from Dublin in a time of 2h 35m.

For Irish results, see below...

Nollaig O'Neill from Cork wins Lanzarote Marathon for the 2nd time

Last Saturday the 12th of December, Nollaig O'Neill from Cork won the Lanzarote marathon for the second time. A member of Leevale AC, Nollaig posted a time of 2h 52m 46s which is just 12 seconds ahead of her 2013 time of 2:52:58.

This caps off an excellent year for Nollaig as she won the Cork City Marathon as well last June in a time of 2:57:45.

Post marathon interview HERE

Nollaig O'Neill from Cork wins Lanzarote Marathon in 2:52...

The Lanzarote Marathon was held last Sunday the 8th of December and attracted a field of 186 runners. One result of note was that of Nollaig O'Neill of Leevale AC  who finished in a time of 2:52:58 to win the womens title. Nollaig was the 7th person overall with the first man finishing in 2:37.

Fast forward to 12:30 to see Nollaig finishing...