Alejandro Candela Open Water Swim 2026: what time it starts and how long you have to enter

The Travesía a Nado Alejandro Candela is swum on Saturday 17 October at Playa de Las Cucharas, in Costa Teguise. It is the fourth of the five stages of the XII Lanzarote Open Water Swimming Cup and it is run by Club de Natación Nadamas.

Five days to swim it, two to enter. Here is what you need settled, with the entry platform, the race regulations and the Cup regulations all read on 12 October.

What time it starts: be on the beach by 11:00

This is the question that reaches us most often about this swim, and it is best answered with both sources side by side, because they give different times for the long start.

The entry platform, under «Horario y lugar de la prueba», says «A partir de las 11:00 salida en Playa Las Cucharas en varios horarios», starts from 11:00 at Playa Las Cucharas at staggered times. The race regulations, signed by Club NadaMas, pin the 1,500 metres down to 11:30 for the men and 11:45 for the women, both marked as approximate.

With that in hand, the time to plan your day around is 11:00 on the sand. Get there then and you miss nothing. Cut it fine for 11:30 and you are gambling with the start.

The four short distances have no clock time in either source. They go off in sequence, ten minutes after the last swimmer of the previous wave comes in, and the call is made at the start itself. If you are taking a child, there is no time to write in the calendar: you have to be there.

One warning about what you see on screen when you enter: the «17/10/2026 11:00» printed next to every category is the event start time, identical across all six, not the start time of that distance.

Lunch and the prize-giving are scheduled for around 14:30.

The six waves and today’s entry numbers

On 12 October the platform shows 157 entries, broken down like this:

• 1.5 km, infantil, junior and master, born 2012 and earlier: 91
• 4x200 mixed relay, infantil, junior and master: 20
• 50 m, prebenjamín, 2017 to 2021: 13
• 800 m, alevín, 2013 to 2014: 12
• 400 m, benjamín, 2015 to 2016: 12
• Inclusive, 300 m: 9

On 3 October there were 117, so forty swimmers have come in over nine days and the rate climbs as the deadline gets closer.

Two capacity figures are published and the short one is the one to hold on to. Article 5.1 of the Cup regulations speaks of «un máximo de 450 plazas», a maximum of 450 places per swim; the regulations for this particular swim set the field at «Entre 100-250 máximo», between 100 and 250. At 157 there is room either way, but the real margin is the one set by 250.

There is an age detail worth clearing up by phone before paying. The platform opens the 50 m as «Pre-benjamín (2017 a 2021)» while article 11 of the Cup regulations recognises only 2017 and 2018 in that category. If the child was born in 2019 or later, the cheap move is to call the club on 670 49 05 00, because article 6.4 disqualifies anyone swimming in a wave that does not match their age.

Entries close on Wednesday 14 at 23:59

The closing date is not on the platform, which publishes none. It is set by article 5.1 of the XII Cup regulations, which govern all five stages: «El cierre de inscripción de cada travesía se establece cada míercoles de la semana del evento a las 23:59h (hora canaria)», entries for each swim close on the Wednesday of race week at 23:59 Canary time. The typo in «míercoles» is in the original. Since the 17th is a Saturday, the Wednesday of that week is 14 October, three days before the swim.

Re-read today, 12 October, in the PDF published by lanzarotedeportes.com. So there are two days of entry left, and there is no refund: the platform states «No se hará devolución después de proceder la inscripción».

What each distance costs

Prices read on the platform on 12 October, the same as on the 3rd:

• 1.5 km infantil, junior and master: 20 euros
• 800 m alevín: 12 euros
• 400 m benjamín: 10 euros
• 50 m prebenjamín: 5 euros
• Inclusive 300 m: 5 euros
• 4x200 mixed relay: 2.50 euros per swimmer

It is a flat fee. There are no price tiers by date and no late surcharge, so waiting until Wednesday costs nothing in money, only in risk. Article 5.6 of the Cup regulations sets 8 euros for benjamín; what the platform charges is 10.

Accident and public liability cover are provided by the organisation under article 5.2. Neither the Cup regulations nor the race regulations ask for a federation licence or a medical certificate: article 3.1 goes no further than recommending «disponer de la revisión médica que lo acredite», having a medical check to back it up.

Number, chip and cap: Friday 16 at Santa Rosa

They are collected the day before the day before, on Friday 16 October at Centro Deportivo Santa Rosa, 09:00 to 13:00 and 16:00 to 19:00. Bring your ID card or a document identifying the swimmer; you can collect someone else’s with a signed authorisation and a photocopy of their ID.

Two pieces of kit decide whether you swim at all. The official cap is compulsory and it is the same one across all five swims in the series, so anyone who did an earlier stage already has it; a replacement costs 2 euros at the Ciudad Deportiva Lanzarote reception. The chip is compulsory too, and handing it back afterwards is not a formality: failing to do so costs 20 euros and blocks your next entry.

Wetsuits, fins and watches: what cannot go in the water

The regulations for this swim are blunt: «Los nadadores no podrán usar aletas, manoplas, reloj, gafas con tubos de respiración ni trajes de neopreno (según establece el reglamento FINA)», no fins, hand paddles, watches, snorkel goggles or wetsuits.

The Cup regulations add temperature nuance in article 6.2: below 18 °C a wetsuit is compulsory, from 18 °C it is banned, between 18 and 20 °C the referees decide and it is optional in master, outside the 16 to 31 °C range the event is suspended, and in para swimming it is allowed even above 20 °C.

In October the sea off Lanzarote sits comfortably above 18 °C, so swimming without one is the likely call. The decision is made on the beach that morning, by judges from the Canarian Swimming Federation.

What is at stake in the Cup

This is stage four of five, and the last one, the Papagayo Beaches Crossing, is not until 7 November. To make the overall standings you have to swim at least 3 of the 5, and your best 4 scores count, or your best 3 if a stage falls through. Article 7 of the Cup regulations sets it out.

So anyone with two stages behind them who skips this one can still make it at Papagayo, but with no room for error.

Watching it from the shore

Las Cucharas is one of the easiest beaches on the island from which to follow an open water race: facilities right on the sand, parking nearby, and a shoreline from which you can see the whole loop without moving. That is not true of most swims in Lanzarote.

Costa Teguise is wind country and the trade wind usually picks up in the afternoon, so the morning normally gives the kinder water. Checking the forecast the night before is enough.

And the weekend is busy up north: the same Saturday the Unique Trail Lanzarote finishes at the Mirador del Río, so the island has a mountain finish in the north and an open water race in Costa Teguise on the same day.

The full listing, with the course, the contacts and the official links, is at Alejandro Candela Open Water Swim. The whole month, weekend by weekend, is in Lanzarote in October 2026. To enter you have to go to the organiser’s platform, because the payment is theirs.