Sport on Tenerife Half Marathon Las Galletas (XIV Medio Maratón de Las Galletas)

It’s run in the sun time in the south of Tenerife. The 14th Las Galletas half marathon takes place next month. 21 kilometres under a damn hot, if not searing, sun.

I become a sweaty bit of mess if I do the slightest bit of gardening, so running in Tenerife’s temperatures seems bordering on the insane.

But for those of you mad enough to enter, the time to beat is 1:04:11 if you’re a man and 1:13:30 if you’re a woman.

At least, unlike the race the week before, you can wear some clothes for this one.

Time: 9am

Date: 11th April

Place: Las Galletas

See the website for more details

Easter on Tenerife – The Passion in Adeje

Anyone who really wants to experience how Easter (Semana Santa) is celebrated on Tenerife shouldn’t have far to travel to find out. There are processions and events in every town during Easter week.

Normally the biggest and best fiestas are in the northern parts of Tenerife and a bit of a hike for the majority of tourists who stay in the south of the island, but Adeje’s depiction of The Passion of Christ is one of the main events of the holidays.

About 300 of the local townspeople take part in a stirring and re-enactment of The Passion on Adeje town’s old streets – a hop, skip and a jump from the biggest resorts.

Time and Place: Good Friday (2nd April) from midday in Calle Grande, Adeje Town

Events on Tenerife – Walking over the Peak in Santiago del Teide

Anyone who tells you that La Gomera is what Tenerife used to be like hasn’t spent much time in the hills on the island. There are plenty of places where life has hardly changed in eons.

Take the hamlets around Santiago del Teide for instance. On any day of the year you’ll normally find old women in straw and men in fedoras harvesting their crops by hand. On the 11th April they’ll be taking another step back in time by reintroducing an old custom, Al Paso de la Cumbre – Walking over the Peak.

This wonderful, if leg muscle testing, tradition involves local merchants in traditional costume traipsing along old trading routes with their livestock and produce such as cheese, honey and wine to trade with other villages.
On the 11th, they’ll reach Santiago del Teide.

So if you want to witness the old Tenerife that still exists in the hillsides, save yourself the ferry fare to La Gomera and head up to Santiago del Teide next month.

Note: We’ll post more details when they become available.

Get Ready to Bounce, Jiggle and Wiggle – It’s the First Nude Race on Tenerife ( I Carrera Nudista VKS)

Okay, this one has got to be seen to be believed; next month sees the first Carrera Nudista at Playa de la Tejita near El Médano.

In truth contestants won’t be completely nude, runners are allowed to wear hats, sunglasses, socks and shoes – so a modicum of decency then – anything else and they’ll be disqualified.

The race is organised by the people behind the Xtreme race in Puerto de la Cruz last weekend and whilst that was great fun to watch, the 3 kilometre nudist race promises to be even more…ahem…eye-catching.

I’m intrigued to see how man people will actually take part – I mean nude running has great comic potential.

If you fancy giving your white bits a bit of an airing and a run-out it’s €10 to take part. Don't forget to slap on plenty of suncream on sensitive bits.

I could get a fit of the giggles just thinking about it. I’ve got to go and get some pictures.

Date: 4th April

Place: Playa de la Tejita

Time: 10am

Fiestas on Tenerife – Easter on Tenerife; Semana Santa in La Laguna

It’s time to get the big pointy hats out on Tenerife – no it’s not carnaval, or Halloween and anyone expecting big Easter celebrations in the more traditional towns on Tenerife are going to be disappointed.

However, anyone wanting to witness a truly emotive event will be left breathless by the spectacle of the Semana Santa processions, especially in La Laguna. The city’s atmospheric historic streets are given added resonance when brotherhoods carrying full size crucifixes silently parade through them.

The most emotional events are the ‘Magna’ and ‘Silent’ processions on Viernes Santos (Good Friday) afternoon and evening respectively.

Date: Friday 2ndApril

Time: The Magna procession leaves the Iglesia de la Concepción at 17.00, the Silent procession sets off begins at 21.30

Concerts on Tenerife – Fundraising Concert "Refugiados en el Desierto"

With music by Schubert, Liszt, Wagner and a whole host of other classic composers, the fundraising concert in aid of people in refugee camps in the Western Sahara is not only guaranteed to be music to the ears it’s also for a very worthy cause.

Location: Auditorio de Santa Cruz

Date: Saturday, 20the March

Time: 9pm

Tickets: €15

Alicia Keys in Concert on Tenerife 2010

At last a big international name that isn’t actually at the point of drawing their pension or is past their best. I must admit to being sceptical when it was rumoured that Alicia Keys was performing in Tenerife, but sure enough the multi-talented beauty is going to turn the air of the capital, Santa Cruz, sweet with her music in June.

Date: 6th June 2010

Time: 9pm

Venue: Dársena Los Llanos at the port of Santa Cruz de Tenerife

Tickets: €35 & €60

BUY YOUR TICKETS HERE

Canarias Infinity Extreme 2010 in Puerto de la Cruz

‘It’s a Knockout’ comes to Puerto de la Cruz again this month as the Canarias Infinity Extreme event turns the car park beside the harbour into a giant obstacle course.

Contestants have to cover 10 kilometres and negotiate 15 obstacles (more than once) within two hours.

Judging by the grimaces on the faces of the contestants last year after they’d tackled water and foam-filled containers over and over again, this is a race only for the meanest and toughest competitors, well those and masochists.

Date: 13th March

Time: 4pm

Tenerife Roads Closed Due to Storm Damage Following Cyclone Xynthia

The Cabildo de Tenerife (Island Government) is currently working hard to clear the Teide Access road from La Orotava (from kilometre 19 to 22) to remove branches and fallen trees which were blown down by the gale force winds which hit the island over the weekend and mainly affected the higher ground. Hundreds of pine trees were uprooted by the wind and fell onto the road which means that the road will be closed to traffic from 08.00 to 15.00 hours from tomorrow [Tuesday 2nd March] and until the following Monday [8th March].

The TF-24 road which runs from La Laguna to El Portillo was reopened to traffic yesterday [Sunday 28th February] although the Cabildo is urging the general public to step up safety precautions when driving on this road.

The Cabildo hopes to be able to reopen the access road to Teide through Vilaflor (TF-21) in the next few days once the cleaning and restoration work to the unstable borders affected by the February storms has been completed.