San Silvestre Ciudad de Arrecife

Event information

About the event

The San Silvestre Ciudad de Arrecife is the capital’s end-of-year race and, by turnout, one of the biggest mass-participation events on Lanzarote: more than 1,300 people ran the last edition, according to La Voz de Lanzarote.

It is put on by Arrecife town council through its sports department, the Concejalía de Deportes, with Tripasión and Lumar Canarias on the logistics. It is not a race for times. It goes out on the morning of 31 December through central Arrecife, and a good part of the field is in fancy dress. This is where the island’s racing year ends, and where the people who compete all year mix with the people who run once.

What exists for 2026, and what does not

As of 2 October 2026 nothing has been published about the 2026 edition: no date, no rules, no entries, no poster. We give 31 December because that is what tradition dictates, and because the municipal by-law describes the race as «la carrera popular San Silvestre Ciudad de Arrecife que cada 31 de diciembre organiza la Concejalía de Deportes», the popular race the sports department puts on every 31 December, not because the council has announced anything.

And one link is misleading. The address listed as the official website, sansilvestrearrecife.es, is not a website: it is two lines of code that redirect to the entry form for the 2025 edition, and that form answers «EL PLAZO DE INSCRIPCIONES ESTÁ CERRADO» and «ESTE EVENTO YA FUE CELEBRADO», entries closed and event already held, checked on 2 October 2026. Click it looking for the 2026 edition and you land on last year’s.

When the call goes out it will go out where it always does: the Deportes Arrecife Facebook page and the council switchboard, 928 81 27 50. The rules themselves point there even for bib numbers, announced «en nuestras redes sociales y vía email a cada participante», on the organiser’s social channels and by email to each entrant.

Route and distances

The main race is 5 km through the city’s central streets, starting and finishing at the Parque Islas Canarias in 2025. It is run from the age of 12, not 14: the rules ask entrants to «contar con 12 años el día de la prueba con autorización madre/padre/tutor», to be 12 on race day with a parent’s or guardian’s consent, and the 2025 programme repeats it when announcing the main start, «Mayores De 12 Años Inclusive», ages 12 and up.

The start time changes depending on which document you read, and both are the organiser’s own. The 2025 rules say 11:00: «La prueba se celebrará el día 31 de Diciembre del 2025 en el horario estipulado, Carrera Infantil a las 9:30 horas y seguidamente a las 11:00 horas comenzará la Carrera de Adultos». The official programme for that same edition, posted on the entry platform, says 12:00: «12:00 horas, Salida Absoluta 5 Km». 12:00 is also what the platform publishes in its «Fecha del evento» field, which marks the beginning of the whole event and need not be the gun time.

The rules then contradict themselves: their table of children’s distances puts the last of those races, for ages 10 to 13, at 11:15, fifteen minutes after the time that same document gives for the main start. We give both times and choose for nobody.

The children’s categories run first, each with its own distance. In 2025 that meant 50 metres at 10:00 for ages 2 to 4, who could be accompanied by an adult; 200 metres at 10:20 for ages 5 to 7; 400 metres at 10:45 for ages 8 to 9; and 800 metres at 11:15 for ages 10 to 13. The rules themselves warn that «los horarios son orientativos», the times are only a guide. That is why this is a race for whole families and not only for runners.

The exact route is published with the rules and can change from year to year depending on the municipal arrangements, so we do not fix it here.

Entry and prices

The 12 euros for adults and 5 for children are not set by the race rules: they are set by a tax by-law. The rules only say the fee «debe hacerse en la RED TRIBUTARIA DE LANZAROTE», that it is paid through the Lanzarote tax office, and point to the municipal by-law. That by-law is the Ordenanza fiscal reguladora de la tasa por la participación en la carrera popular San Silvestre Ciudad de Arrecife, published in the Boletín Oficial de la Provincia de Las Palmas number 135 of 9 November 2022, and its article 4 sets the general rate at 12 euros for the 5 km race and 5 euros for children up to 12.

The same by-law carries reduced rates almost nobody looks at: 8.40 and 3.50 euros with a large-family card or a disability of 33 % or more, and 9.60 and 4 euros for registered jobseekers and their children. For a disability of 65 % or more the text says two different things, 6 and 2.50 euros in section B.2 and no fee at all for the entrant and one companion in B.4. Certificates are shown when the bib is collected.

There is no entry open for 2026, checked on 2 October 2026. In the last edition the payment went through the Red Tributaria Lanzarote and the form through Tripasión Eventos. It is worth reading the rules when they appear: the 2025 set warns that «no se permitirán inscripciones el día de la prueba», no entries on race day, and that there are no refunds.

Planning notes

This race is shaped by the day it falls on. On 31 December central Arrecife has last-minute shopping traffic and road closures, so arrive early and do not rely on the car: parking near the start is not going to happen.

In the last edition the bib could not be collected on race day. The 2025 programme handed bibs out on Tuesday 30 December 2025 at the Parque Islas Canarias, from 10:00 to 14:00 and 17:00 to 21:00, and put it in writing: «solo se reparte este día, el día de la carrera NO SE RETIRÁ ningún dorsal por ningún motivo», that day only, and on race day no bib is released for any reason. If the 2026 edition repeats the format, that is the detail that leaves people out.

And expect no afternoon. In 2025 the trophies went out at 12:30, half an hour after the main start, and everyone has dinner that night, so whatever comes after tends to be short.