Müller and Leonhardt win in Tamadaba

Swiss orienteering star Matthias Müller and Austrian orienteer Karin Leonhardt both came out on top in Tamadaba today. Matthias won the 7km H21course in a very impressive time of 38 mintues beating me by over 2 minutes. Karin's win was equally as impressive winning D21 on the same course as the H21 in just under 60 minutes, beating most of the men.

I was quite please with my run today, as I have had quite a tough week's training. I was pretty clean until the 9th control when I lost my line through some green. Matthias caught me and we ran the rest of the course together. I felt good to be running with someone like Matthias after such a long break from top level orienteering, and it made me really want to try to get to some race in main land Spain and the UK.

VIII Media Maratón Campo a Través Ciudad de Arucas (half marathon Arucas)

Today was Carucat's 8th annual mountain half marathon in Arucas. I had planned this to be my last race before K42 Gran Canaria (6th April), however things didn't quite go to plan. After spending a little longer than planned at carnaval (dressed as The Tin Man), I forgot to set alarm clock to off on Sundays. I woke up at 09.10 ate a bannana then started to look for the car keys, to cut a long story short I eventually found the keys at 09.45, and started to attempt to get Arucas for a 10.00 start. As I arrived in the car park I heard the starter gun go while I was frantically looking for a car parking space, I quickly changed my shoes and ran to the start to pick up my number and timing chip. I started 8mins behind the other competitors. It wasn't long before I start to pick off some of the slower runners, passing runners soon became very difficult on the narrow paths. I never quite caught up with the leaders but I managed to finish in 8th position in a time of roughly 1hr27 (I forgot my watch too).
The race was won by host club's Yeray Santana in the very quick time of 1hr24.

What have I learnt today? Carnaval and racing do not mix well!

Results available here. Or on Top Time's webpage.

Corre Ve Y Dile!! What a crazy race!!

At the weekend Zonaboxes and RunGoSay (my mountain running club) held their second edition of Correveydile, and Active Canaria had a team 'running'. Before you read anymore let me explain, this was a novelty race where teams were expected to dress up! So for some reason Active Canaria decided we would go as the Spice Girls.

Active Canaria's team consisted of:

Allan Bogle- Posh
Alison Hill- Ginger
Gordon Sutcliffe- Sporty
Manga Dembele- Scary
Fran Harkins- Baby

Although we did not win, or came anywhere close to winning we had a great time...and we are already thinking about what we will dress as next year! Any ideas Gordon?

Photos: Bichillo Runner

Africans dominate in Gran Canaria Marathon

Kipkosgei Kutto James (Kenya) and Ture Chatumoha (Ethiopia) win the new edition of the Gran Canaria Marathon.

Las Palmas lived up to its high standard in sports event organising yesterday by hosting the new edition of the Gran Canaria Marathon. Over 3000 competitors from 23 countries hit the historic streets of Las Palmas, cheered on by thousands of spectators which lined the entire route.

Kutta could not get close to his PB (two hours and eight minutes), however he ran a very respectable time of 2:17:40. Behind him was the Spanish veteran Miguel Angel Vaquero with an amazing time of 2:18:30 and Swede Kristoffer Österlund, who crossed the line in third place (2:28:53).

The women´s race followed a similar story with the Africa runner, Chatumoha winning in a time of 2:40:31 followed by Aroa Merino in second (2:50:08), and Heike Angel in third (3:19:46).

Orienteering in Gran Canaria?

After spending a very cold (but fun) Christmas in the UK, I am back in sunny Gran Canaria. Since arriving back last week I have been very busy sorting things out for Active Canaria, as our first clients are coming this week. Øystein Kvaal Østerbo (one of the world'd best orienteers) and Karoliina Sundberg from Finland (23rd in the IOF World rankings).
I have finished a 1:10 000 map in the South of the island. It is an open area with some lovely rocky detail. There is a 7km middle distance training hanging there until the end of February.

I have also finished a brand new 1:5000 sprint map, the first on Gran Canaria.

If you are interested in orienteering on Gran Canaria please do not hesitate to contact me on allan@activecanaria.com and keep checking our site for our latest deals http://www.activecanaria.com/ .

Happy Christmas!!

(Joe McAllister)

Today I got up to go to the 24th annual Greencastle 5mile race in Co. Tyrone (Northern Ireland), to discover my car had other plans! After an hour of trying everything it decided to start!! I arrived in Greencastle just as Joe McAllister (St. Malachy's) crossed the line in first place in a time of 26:30.

However not being one to miss an opportunity I placed about 300 Active Canaria leaflets in the runners' 'goodie bags'.

On my way home I stopped in Gortin Glen to train in my new Bridgedale socks and t-shirt! Yes, it was as cold as it looks!!

PHOTOS: Alison Hill (Running Photography)

Øystein Kvaal Østerbø is coming...

(Photo: World of O)

From the 13th to the 31st January 2010 Active Canaria is offering orienteers the chance to train on the same courses as used by Øystein Kvaal Østerbø. Øystein, who is currently ranked 23rd in the World, is coming to Gran Canaria in January and will be training on the island’s best orienteering areas. Why not join him?

Active Canaria will be providing 6 different training courses on 3 different maps (two of which are over 1500m above sea level). To help you get the most out of your time on Gran Canaria, Active Canaria will give all orienteers a ‘training pack’ will all the courses and maps and information on other (running) training routes.

If you are interested contact Allan on allan@activecanaria.com or register on our site (http://www.activecanaria.com/  and send us a booking request.