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Hawaii

Club La Santa, 16 May 2006

1500 Kids in the Sunrise Fun Run!

Tuesday May 16, it was the day of the Sunrise Fun Run at Club La Santa! This run is part of the programme of the festival week around the Ironman Lanzarote. It’s namely not only interesting on Saturday May 20, when this big race will take place: a series of other activities are being created, like the Sunrise Fun Run!

About 1500 school children of the island in the age of 8 till 11 joined this event which started next to the lagoon and ended in the stadium. Around 10 o’ clock in the morning, it was much busier than normal by the lagoon. Many buses arrived with a lot of enthusiastic children, looking forward to their sportive effort of the day. They were all wearing white T-Shirts with the blue print ‘Sunrise Fun Run’, and everyone was willing to show his shirt to the cameras of the press, which was also present . When everybody was there, it was time for some speeches. One of the speakers was Kenneth Gasque, Race Manager of Club La Santa. He welcomed the kids, told them something about the Ironman and introduced them to one of the professional triathletes that will participate in the Ironman Lanzarote. The Belgian Gerrit Schellens, 3 rd in the Ironman Lanzarote last year and winner of the Ironman South Africa this year, got the microphone and explained to the children that it was fantastic to see so many of them at the start of the race, because in his country – Belgium – it wouldn’t be possible to organize something like this. Not so many kids like on this Tuesday would show up! Because of the fact Gerrit doesn’t speak Spanish, Marketing Director Isabelle Janssens de Varebeke translated his words and after that, he got the applause!

When the speeches were finished, it was time for a powerful warming up! On Spanish music, all the kids followed the movements of the instructor on the podium and it was obvious that they had a lot of fun! After loosening the muscles, it was time to go to the start… The organization mentioned again that it was a race for fun, so that the kids wouldn’t push each other to be the first. And there they went – around the lagoon, on their way to the stadium! The tough ones also ran one lap at the court there, so that they had a ‘real’ finish. However, most of the kids went immediately to the stands with food and drinks in the middle: that was much more interesting than running one more lap in the heat… It was namely a very warm day! The Club La Santa staff provided the children with apples, water, yoghurts and also the donuts and cakes were very welcome!

This year’s Sunrise Fun Run was a great success, the kids indeed had a lot of fun and we want to thank them all for participating! Now they only need to practice the swimming and the biking and in the future, they can probably compete in the race where it’s all about this week: the 15 th edition of the Ironman Lanzarote…