Federation-registered athletes are now training at CIAT by appointment

Concepción Rivero, the Tenerife Island Council’s Councilor for Culture, Sports, and Youth, and Laura Castro, the island’s Director of Sports, attended the launch today, for federated athletes, of the facilities at the Island Athletics Center (CIAT), coinciding with Phase 1 of the reopening plan.

“The Tenerife Island Council is opening the doors of the Island Athletics Center to athletes over the age of 16. Significant efforts have been made by Ideco management and the island’s sports department to get the facilities up and running so that athletes can safely engage in their sports activities; to this end, cleaning and safety measures have been strengthened, and access routes have also been established to ensure that everyone is protected against infection,” said Councilor Concepción Rivero during the visit.

The CIAT will be open only to federated athletes over the age of 16 and only by appointment for training sessions, which will always be conducted on an individual basis. The center will be open from 8:30 a.m. to 8:45 p.m., and these hours will be divided into six different time slots with capacity limits to ensure adequate spacing between athletes.

“Federated athletes have seen their performance decline during this lockdown period, which is why we’re very happy to be able to reopen this facility. It’s a major step forward that everyone can now come to train, rebuild their strength and endurance, and we hope to resume competing at the highest national and international levels in the near future,” said the island’s Director of Sports, Laura Castro, who also highlighted the improvements made to the facility, such as “sealing the northern opening—a major request from athletes due to the drafts entering the indoor space—for which the Island Council has invested more than 180,000 euros, the replacement of cardio machines and new equipment, and the launch of an energy-efficiency project to convert all indoor lighting to LED.”

It should be noted that the areas of the Tenerife Athletics Center that will remain open for use by federated athletes are the outdoor track—which includes the artificial turf section, lanes 1, 4, and 7— natural grass, the south jumping pit, the long jump pit and semicircles, and the throwing pit, as well as the warm-up area.

It is estimated that approximately 310 federated athletes over the age of 16 will use the facilities, a number that could double if we include all the schools affiliated with local federated clubs.