Estela Guerra from the Canary Islands and Owen Davies from the United Kingdom are the two candidates to win the 21 kilometre race – The more than 750 participants of 18 nationalities will discover some of the most unknown places in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.
The historic district of Vegueta is getting ready to welcome next Sunday more than 750 participants in the LPA Trail, a sporting event organised by Arista Eventos and the Instituto Municipal de Deportes (IMD) of the Ayuntamiento of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. Mountain races return to the city with three modalities that will have a more equal fight than ever for the victories.
The Gran Canarian Estela Guerra and the British Owen Davies, fourth in the last edition of the Transgrancanaria Advanced, start as candidates for the victory in the 21-kilometre distance. Guerra is looking for a victory in the longest distance of the LPA Trail after last year’s second place of the podium, only behind the Asics team athlete Sara Alonso. The Arista Pro Team runner will be up against Tatiana Mújica, also from Gran Canaria, winner of the 2022 Half Marathon des Sables in Fuerteventura and Morocco, and the Norwegian KaratinaSkaufeldt, third in the Fénix Trail held last January.
Among the men, Davies wants to repeat the good result obtained in the last Transgrancanaria when he was very close to the podium. The Briton will face the Canarian armada represented by Ione Guerra, Aitor Navarro Hita and Octavio León, who returns to competition after a few months on the sidelines due to injury. All of them will be on the start line at ten o’clock in the morning in the Plaza de Santa Ana along with more than 150 other participants.
At the same time and from the neighbourhood of El Fondillo, the start of the 13 kilometre race will take place with more than 350 runners. Yurena Castrillo, Sandra Moreno and Alicia Lammel will take on the fast race that will take them through the Viera y Clavijo Canarian Botanical Garden, the University Campus of the ULPGC and the Guiniguada ravine to cross the finish line in front of the Cathedral. Among the men, Aday López Abellán is looking to repeat the victory he already achieved in this modality in 2017. Aythami López Villaverde and Samuel Santana, who will try to win his first victory of the season after a second place in the CronoTrailAlmendro de Tejeda and a third place in the Fénix Trail, will be his main rivals.
The Albiturría viaduct will also host the start of the 5 km race at ten o’clock in the morning, a fast race along the Guiniguada ravine in which the 200 participants will discover the hidden beauty of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, with the riverbed full of white tajinaste in bloom.
At 12.30 p.m. everything will be ready in the Plaza de Santa Ana to experience a festival that this year combines trail running and Father’s Day, and where, in addition, children will have a leading role. The first edition of the LPA Kids will have 65 participants divided into two categories – from 0 to 7 years old and from 7 to 13 years old. The youngest participants will run in two circuits that will go throgh the cobbled streets of the historic centre of the capital of Gran Canaria. In this way, Arista Eventos and the IMD want to instil practising sport from an early age.
This eighth edition of the LPA Trail is also the most international of those held so far. A total of 18 nationalities will be represented at the start of the three modalities, including the Norwegian delegation with seven participants, Germany with five, and the United Kingdom with four. There will also be participants from Italy, Sweden, Portugal, France, Uruguay, Argentina, Austria, Slovenia, Hungary, Romania, the Netherlands, Poland, Ukraine and Venezuela.
The eighth edition of the LPA Trail is organised by Arista Eventos and is sponsored by the city council, Ayuntamiento de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria through the Municipal Sports Institute (IMD), the Cabildo de Gran Canaria through the Instituto Municipal de Deportes, Turismo de Gran Canaria and the Viera y Clavijo Botanical Garden; the Government of the Canary Islands with Promotur – Turismo de las Islas Canarias,, Fred. Olsen Express, Gofio La Piña, YoPro – Danone and Lorenzo González Automoción.