The 16th-century Church of Puig de Missa stands guard on a summit overlooking the whole village of Santa Eulalia in Ibiza, Spain.
The 2017 European spring marathon season is already in full swing! Our next race stop was Ibiza, the Balearic island in Spain considered as the world’s center of the clubbing scene. I have some of Ibiza’s hypnotic house music on my race playlist and I was looking forward to hearing the DJs spinning live along the race course. The organizers did not disappoint us. There were indeed several DJs that played the famous Ibiza music. I stopped to take a video of one at the 12K mark.
There were also a couple of drum lines.
The race was special because this was the inaugural edition of the Ibiza Marathon. The course started and finished at the Port of Santa Eulària des Riu.
We ran along the coastal roads of Santa Eulària des Riu for the first two kilometers before heading uphill and inland, making a loop to finish in the same area. Along the way, we saw or ran by major tourist attractions like the Puig de Missa, Dalt Villa, and Punta Arabi. The aid stations had water, sports drink, oranges, and bananas. A gel station gave out energy gels.
Ryanair has direct flights to Ibiza from Brussels South Charleroi Airport. You can also fly Vueling with a stopover in Barcelona. We arrived on Friday evening and stayed at Tropic Garden Aparthotel, a few steps away from the marathon expo and the start/finish lines.
We stayed in a one-bedroom suite with a sea view.
The living room had an interesting mural. This was the perfect backdrop of the angel of my life!
The buffet breakfast was served between 8:00 and 10:00 AM.
After breakfast, we made our way to the marathon expo at the Palacio de Congresos de Ibiza.
The goody bag contained the finisher’s shirt, waterproof cellphone carrier, Ladival sunscreen, Snatts chips, Brillante quinoa ready to eat, Ibiza fridge magnet, luggage tag, and Ibiza island tourist guide. When we came out of the expo, several volunteers were putting up the kilometer markers. I also bought a beautiful white race jacket for 30€.
The race started at 3:00 PM together with the marathon relay participants. There was also a 12K category that started later. The cut-off time was 5 hours and 30 minutes and timed to take advantage of the spectacular Ibiza sunset. Each finisher received a goody bag that contained two Haribo gummie bears, Amstel lemon beer, Snatts chips, and bottled water. They were also serving all sorts of sweet breads. I passed on that but we stopped for a refreshing mango sorbet.
Finishers also had free entrance to Club Pacha, one of the Ibiza hotspots in the island, after the race. After all, the current tourist attractions in Ibiza are the clubs! Billboard listed nine best clubs to visit during the peak season from May to October.
It was pleasant when we ran by the beach road but it was very warm when we ran inland. I was exhausted when I finished the race so I opted out of the expected clubbing afterwards. I’ll leave the clubbing to the younger racers.
The following day was Palm Sunday. The procession was just getting started at the city center at 11:00 AM so we joined the locals in the march to Puig de Missa.
A lazy lunch followed at La Costanera by the beach.
We stayed to people watch, listen to the live guitar music, and have some photos taken.
Yes, it was indeed a European beach. The wind was cool but the sun was out in full force. The Sunday sunbathers were there, but not as many as the Saturday people.
We finally called it a day. We flew back to Brussels on Monday, April 10, 2017.
The Global Adventurer 