Carratalá and Beneito win elite RX at Lanzarote Summer Challenge

Elena Carratalá and Fabián Beneito won elite RX at the 12th Lanzarote Summer Challenge after a weekend that turned Arrecife into a mixed-modal test across Reducto Beach, the Islote de la Fermina and Puerto Deportivo La Marina. The final package was built to punish every system at once: lungs, legs, grip, and the ability to keep moving when the sand and surf had already taken a toll.

The decisive beach final was not a soft landing. Athletes opened with 100 sit-ups without a break, then moved into a 300-meter run and a 60-meter sled drag on sand carrying up to 60 kilos. From there came another 300-meter run, 40 burpees, single-arm dumbbell rows with 25 kilos, and a 150-meter swim to finish. That sequence rewarded the athletes who could keep their pace from collapsing after the sled and burpees, then switch cleanly from land work to water without losing their line.

The qualifier that got teams into that final was just as loaded. It featured a six-minute effort with a 70-kilo sandbag carry and 10 handstand push-ups, then a finishing stretch of 12 rope climbs, 150 heavy rope jumps, 80 wall-ball-style throws with a 12-kilo ball, 60 toes-to-bar, and 30 barbell reps with up to 80 kilos overhead. That is the kind of programming that exposes who can still own positions late in a workout, not just survive the opening minute.

Laura Plaza and Arnau Sabaté finished second, with Julia Blazejowska and Alejandro De la Guardia third. Andrea Beautell and Jeremías Lasso won Masters, Carla Morales and David Leyton took Intermediate, and Lala Alcocer and Sandro Acosta won Scaled. The first day drew 200 competitors, and the organizer said the 2026 edition featured more international participation, more athletes and better prizes than previous years.

That scale matters because Lanzarote is no longer just a local sand-and-salt showcase. The event’s official channels said teams came from different countries, the broadcast included live repeats of each team’s performance, and the competition has built a long media trail with archived footage from 2014, 2016, 2017, 2019, 2021, 2023, 2024 and 2025. Arrecife’s Tourism Award for Best Sporting Event in 2025 only sharpened the point: this is becoming a recurring offseason benchmark for athletes who can handle odd-object loading, gymnastic fatigue and open-water movement in one package.