Results from Club La Santa, Lanzarote, 19-26-Nov-2015

Brew yourself a cuppa and get comfortable as we have a bumper report from the annual Club La Santa, Lanzarote trip.

First, from our Men’s Captain, Wayne:

18 sphinx met up at early o’clock on Thursday mourning at the airport for a relaxing (ish) week away in the sun in Lanzarote.

Even though the main running challenge did not start until the Sunday mourning there was still the weekly la Santa events programme to work through. This included yoga and different types of exercise classes and sports to try, with our own vice-captain entering the catch a egg (kids competition), which as you can see by the photo didn’t go well and he still didn’t win.

As it is such a busy sporting week it was important for everyone re-hydrate each evening so happy hour in the sports bar became a popular event, which led certain to members witnessing a rare environmental event the Golden Shower of Lanzarote. Ask Andy for more info, tickets not recommended !!!!! . During the races the wind seemed to be in your face all the way which made things a lot tougher.

At this moment i have not got the results for Ann and Becky. Also thanks to our Sphinx non-runners Allison , Lynn and Jane for helping as drinks marshals , which were much needed. Thanks for Phil for organising and booking this year’s trip. a good time and great memories had by all.

Photos & Video:

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International Running Challenge Results:

http://www.clublasanta.com/media/1783497/results_irc_2015_all_web.pdf

And a report on the ‘Sphinx Ac Lanzarote 2015 Sports Personality Of The Year’ from our men’s Vice-Captain, Mitch:

This year’s trip to Lanzarote saw the inaugural ‘Sphinx AC Sports Personality Of The Year’ competition take place at Club La Santa.

Andy Wilkinson, Paul Slatford, Wayne Broadbent and myself took part in 25 different events against each other, covering a whole range of sports that also included the four main races of the International Running Challenge.

1 euro per person per event saw 100 euros in the pot, 75 to be claimed by the winner, 25 by second, with the proviso that the winner bought breakfast on the last day!

In a keenly fought competition over the 7 days, which included a two-hour tennis marathon, the worst beach volleyball performance ever witnessed at Club La Santa and a hole-in-one by Slats on the putting green (still waiting for the bottle of whisky to be put behind the bar mate!), the final placings were not actually decided until the penalty shoot-out on the very last afternoon.

Andy Wilkinson stormed into an early lead following his prowess both in the swimming pool and in a kayak and he maintained his number 1 spot throughout; this despite a late ralley by Mitch in the racquet sports (ralley, racquet sports, get it?). Slats came into his own during the running and the aquathlon and Wayne was Mr Consistency throughout (i.e. less rubbish at more things than the rest of us), but also a surprise package in the Stand-Up Paddle Board Sprint event (even though he was kneeling down for most of it!).

The battle for 2nd went to the wire with Slats, the skipper and the vice-skipper all in with a chance on the last day with only the half-marathon and the penalty shoot-out to go.

Wilko won the half-marathon, which ended Paul’s hopes of sneaking into 2nd spot, so it inevitably went to penalties to decide the runner-up position with Mitch needing to beat Wayne to ensure 2nd place overall. After a sudden death finale against Slats, Mitch finished 2nd in the shoot-out and Wayne won it, which meant that overall we had both tied on 61 points each after 25 events and 7 days of blood, sweat and tears.

Even a countback on the number of individual events won out of the 25 could not separate us, so we split the 25 euros and made the most of the last night’s ‘Happy Hour’

Congratulations to Andy Wilkinson who proved an excellent all-rounder throughout finishing with 97 points out of a possible 125 – and thanks for the full English on the last day mate.

Commiserations to Paul who finished last on 53 points but provided great entertainment throughout and fully deserved his victory in the aquathlon (despite Wilko and Wayne not turning up because they wanted to go for a romantic boys’ bike ride together, how sweet….)

Mitch

P.S. Final note: football penalties – 60 taken, 52 scored; basketball shots – 60 taken, 2 scored 🙁