Excitement until the last metre. Poland’s Bart Przedwojewski and Spain’s Álex García fought for victory in the Starter category in a sprint through the streets of Tejeda that was won by the former by less than a second.

The Transgrancanaria, which is held between February 22 and 26, has once again received significant public and private support. It is not surprising, then, that all the Transgrancanaria 2023 races have a spectacular registration in this edition with more than 60 elite runners who will fight for victory.

The racing festival began yesterday, as we told you here with a Polish double in the vertical kilometer and today it was the turn of the Starter 24km D1800+, the promo and its 12km D725+ and the young one for the youngest.

The Brooks team topped the podium in the women’s category, with Switzerland’s Rea Iseli, Spain’s Mireia Pons and France’s Noemie Vachon in the top three positions, respectively. In the Promo race, Cecilia Basso and Enzo Ratti won, while in the Youth the winners were Lilly Perignon and Camile Cucherousset.

The Starter, of 24 kilometres and 1,800 metres of positive elevation gain, set off yesterday morning from Tunte in dry weather. The runners faced a dreaded initial climb along the Camino de La Plata in which a quartet of athletes, formed by Bart Przedwojewski, Álex García, Briton Christopher Richards and Frenchman Mael Allaire, led the race.

The group reached the summit, where the cold and rain made an appearance, at which point the first two athletes were left alone in the lead.

The finish could not have been more exciting. The Pole from the Salomon International team and the Spaniard from Brooks Trail Runners took the sprint down the main street of Tejeda, where the runner from the Central European country took the victory in a photo finish. “I’m very happy to win in my debut in Gran Canaria and in Transgrancanaria, and I hope to come back next year for a longer distance,” said Przedwojewski, who yesterday also won the KV El Gigante in Agaete.

“I’m happy, but it makes me very angry to lose the victory at the finish line”, said Álex García, who admitted: “I’m very competitive and it’s going to be hard for me to assimilate it”.

TRANSGRANCANARIA 2023: PROMO (12K/D+725M)

The town also hosted the finish line of the Promo and Youth, of 12 kilometres and 725 metres of positive difference in altitude. The victories in the men’s and women’s categories went to the Italian Cecilia Basso, who also finished sixth overall, and the Frenchman Enzo Ratti, both from the Brooks Trail Runners team. The podium was completed by the Basque Ainara Uribarri and the Gran Canarian Saida María Martín, who did an excellent performance with the victory among the Canarian women and shared the podium with Esteban García, first Canarian and fourth overall. Among the boys, Emicela Wilson Cardoso from Cape Verde was second and Damian Ramis, also from Brooks Trail Runners, third.

In the Young women’s category, the podium was shared by Lilly Perignon, Sohvi Vapaaoksa and Noelia María Santana, and among the youngest runners, the first three were Camille Cucherousset, Javier Moreno Díaz and Jiri Vemola.

The Transgrancanaria does not stop and tomorrow it returns to Tejeda with the start of the Marathon at 9.30 a.m. with more than a thousand runners from fifty countries and an impressive line-up of runners. In the evening, at 11.59pm, the competition moves to Las Canteras beach in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria to repeat one more year one of the most iconic starts in the world of trail running, with more than 600 runners taking on 128 kilometres to cross the island to Maspalomas.

TRANSGRANCANARIA 2023: COMPLETE PROGRAM

The Transgrancanaria 2023 will debut a new model, which will last for almost a week.

• 22FEB Wednesday, the first of the modalities will begin in San Pedro de Agaete, from where the El Gigante Vertical Kilometer of 5.5 kilometers and 1,130 positive meters will start.
• 23FEB, Tejeda will concentrate all the prominence with the arrivals of the Promo races, of 12 kilometers and starting in Artenara, and Starter, which in 2023 will start from Tunte so that the runners face a tough climb up the Camino de La Plata up to Roque Nublo and down to the Cumbrero town center after 24 kilometers and 1,800 positive.
• 24FEB Friday, February 24, Tejeda will once again become one of the neuralgic points with the start of the Marathon, which will finish in Maspalomas. That same day, at 11:59 p.m., it will be the turn of the queen test, which will once again start at Las Canteras beach. The Classic recovers the 2021 route, with a slight modification in the Summit section.
• 25FEB The last of the modalities will start at 08:30 am on Saturday, February 25. The Transgrancanaria returns to the Puerto de Las Nieves de Agaete with the Advanced modality, which extends its distance to 80 kilometers and 4,500 meters of positive elevation gain. The finish line, as in the Classic, will be located in the Parque Sur of Maspalomas, a setting that repeats after the great reception it had in the last edition by runners and fans.

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