El Río Open Water Swim

Event information

About the event

The El Río Open Water Swim crosses the arm of sea that separates Lanzarote from La Graciosa: 2,600 metres from the beach of Bajo el Risco, at the foot of the Risco de Famara, to the one at Caleta del Sebo. It is the only race on the island calendar swum from one island to another, and that is why it is the first to fill up. It is run by the Servicio Insular de Deportes of the Cabildo de Lanzarote.

The 2026 edition, the XXX, was swum on 19 September 2026. For the XXXI the official site already gives a date and a time: «Sábado 9 octubre de 2027» and «12:30 h. [aproximadamente]», that is, Saturday 9 October 2027 with the start at around 12:30. That is the time the organisers publish, their own «approximately» included. What is still missing is the paperwork: the same page lists the race rules and the timetable as «[próximamente]», coming soon, checked on 2 October 2026.

One municipality, two municipalities

The swim crosses an administrative border, and that is why the sources do not agree, checked on 2 October 2026. The start, the beach of Bajo el Risco, is in Haría. The finish and all the logistics are in Caleta del Sebo, on La Graciosa, which belongs to the municipality of Teguise. Hence Sportmaniacs heading the race as «19 sep 2026, Teguise», and the Cabildo site listing the Teguise town council among the collaborators. If you are going to look it up by municipality, look under both.

Course and distance

The swim is in open sea, inside the Chinijo Archipelago Marine Reserve, and the organisers can adjust the line according to the state of the tide. Start on the beach of Bajo el Risco, in Lanzarote; finish on the sand at Caleta del Sebo, in La Graciosa. There is a cut-off, and the official site publishes it: anyone still in the water an hour after the first swimmer has finished has to withdraw.

The boat logistics

This is the part most people underestimate. Everything before the start happens at the harbour of Caleta de Sebo, in La Graciosa: that is where you collect the swimmer’s bag, where the group warm-up takes place and where you board. The organisers’ boats carry the swimmers out to the start line, in Lanzarote, and from there you swim back. All of this is still published exactly like that on the official site.

You have to be in La Graciosa early, and the ferry ticket is better booked in advance. In 2026 Líneas Romero ran special ferries from Órzola on race day, at 08:30, 09:15, 09:30 and 10:00, and number collection closed at 10:30. Those times are from 2026 and are not published today: they appear neither on lanzarotedeportes.com/tnelrio/ nor on the race’s Sportmaniacs page, checked on 2 October 2026. Líneas Romero is still a collaborator for 2027, but the times will have to wait for the timetable.

One detail that did change and is published: for 2026, Sportmaniacs said the number «se enviará días previos vía email a todos los participantes», would be emailed to every participant in the days beforehand, rather than handed over in person.

Entry, prices and wetsuits

Entry for 2026 is closed. The official site says so in two lines, «Inscripciones ADULTOS: CERRADA/COMPLETA» and «Inscripciones MENORES: CERRADA», adults closed and full, juniors closed, and the entry link on this page leads to that 2026 call, now shut. The 2027 one has not opened, checked on 2 October 2026.

What follows comes from the 2026 edition and has to be read as such, because its source is no longer where it was: it came from the «REGLAMENTO XXX TRAVESÍA A NADO EL RIO 2026», and the link that served it, lanzarotedeportes.com/tnelrio/reglamento/, on 2 October 2026 redirects to the «Reglamento Instalaciones Deportivas gestionadas por el Cabildo Insular de Lanzarote», the Cabildo’s rules for the sports facilities it manages, which is a different document and says nothing about the swim. The link to the race rules that Sportmaniacs offers on its own page points to that same address, so it ends up in the same wrong place.

With that warning up front, this is what the 2026 rules said:

• Places: 450 for adults, 50 for juniors and 100 in the Chinij@, the free children’s swim held in La Graciosa. All of them sold out in 2026.
• Prices: 21 EUR for the general entry and 11 EUR for the junior one.
• Minimum age: 14, and anyone making their debut as a minor had to show three open-water swims longer than 1,000 metres.
• Wetsuits, by water temperature band: compulsory below 18 ºC and banned from 18 ºC in infantil and júnior; compulsory at 17.9 ºC or less, optional between 18 and 19.9 ºC and banned from 20 ºC in máster up to 55 and adaptada; optional for over-55s.
• Kit: numbered cap supplied by the organisers, chip on the right leg and the race number written on the right arm.
• Licence: the 2026 rules did not require a federation licence.

For 2027, none of this can be taken as good until the new rules come out.

Who won in 2026

The official 2026 classification is published on Sportmaniacs, in a single table headed «General, Adultos y Menores» with 490 finishers, 300 men and 190 women. That the general standings mix adults and minors is what explains the podium: five of the first six compete in junior categories, so they are not named.

In the men’s field, the fastest time of the day was 40:44 and it was set by a swimmer in the Junior category (2007-2010). Second, Álvaro Cabrera Winter, finished in 41:32, and the third-placed swimmer competes in Infantil (2011-2012).

In the women’s field, the fastest time was 51:39, by a Junior swimmer; the second came in at 52:09 and competes in Infantil, and the third, at 53:27, is also in Junior. TriLanzarote does not publish the names of people under 18.

Planning your race

You watch this one from La Graciosa: the finish is on the beach at Caleta del Sebo, so anyone coming along does not need to leave the village. Book the ferry ticket in advance.

The date is not entirely fixed either. If the sea does not cooperate, the organisers can delay the start, move the swim to the following day or call it off. For questions, elrio@lanzarotedeportes.com and 928 810100, extension 2186.

The open-water calendar continues with the San Ginés Open Water Swim, second round of the XII Copa, after the La Tiñosa Open Water Swim opened the series on 1 August.