A cancer survivor has begun an extraordinary journey across the Canary Islands today, cycling around 800 kilometres across all seven main islands in just eight days to help other people undergoing treatment for leukaemia.
Lionell Sánchez set off from Órzola in northern Lanzarote this morning at the beginning of the GRAN GUANCHE challenge.
By the time he reaches La Palma on 23rd September, he and his companions are expected to have covered approximately 800 kilometres and climbed more than 10,000 metres.
But the challenge has its origins far away from Lanzarote's roads and volcanic landscapes.
In November 2022, Lionell was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia.
His treatment involved lengthy periods in hospital, isolation and two bone marrow transplants.
During that time, an old exercise bike became an important part of his daily routine.
Unable to leave his hospital environment in the normal way, cycling gave him an opportunity to remain active, maintain muscle strength and introduce some structure into days dominated by treatment.
Now he wants other leukaemia patients to have the same opportunity.
From hospital exercise bike to seven-island challenge
Lionell's objective is to raise money to provide exercise bikes for leukaemia patients being treated in hospitals in Gran Canaria.
The project also aims to encourage more people to become bone marrow donors and raise awareness of the importance of blood donation.
The challenge began with a formidable first stage across Lanzarote.
Lionell is due to cycle approximately 98 kilometres from Órzola to Playa Blanca, tackling around 1,550 metres of climbing before reaching the southern port.
And that is only day one.
From Lanzarote, the challenge continues through Fuerteventura, Gran Canaria, Tenerife, El Hierro and La Gomera, before finishing in La Palma on 23rd September.
The logistics are almost as demanding as the cycling itself, with the team having to move between islands by ferry while maintaining an ambitious schedule of one island stage each day.
He won't be doing it alone
Lionell is being joined by two friends experienced in endurance challenges, while a support team will follow the cyclists to provide supplies and assistance if problems arise.
The challenge is not designed primarily around sporting records.
Instead, its purpose is to turn Lionell's own experience of serious illness into something practical for people facing the same long periods of hospital treatment and isolation that he experienced.
Exercise can be particularly difficult for patients confined to hospital rooms for extended periods, where opportunities to maintain mobility are limited.
For Lionell, the stationary bike provided something simple but important: the ability to keep moving.
The GRAN GUANCHE project aims to provide other patients with better equipment to do the same.
An extraordinary journey across the Canaries
The route also makes the challenge unusually ambitious.
Cycling across a single Canary Island can involve demanding climbs and rapidly changing terrain. Completing substantial routes across all seven main islands in eight days adds ferry journeys, recovery times and complicated logistics to the physical effort.
The riders will encounter Lanzarote's volcanic terrain, Fuerteventura's exposed roads and the dramatically steeper landscapes of islands including Gran Canaria, Tenerife, La Gomera, El Hierro and La Palma.
By the end, the accumulated climbing is expected to exceed 10,000 metres.
But the numbers are secondary to the reason Lionell is riding.
Just four years after an exercise bike helped him through some of the most difficult periods of his leukaemia treatment, he is now attempting to cross an entire archipelago on two wheels so that other patients can benefit from the same simple opportunity to keep moving.
His eight-day journey has started today in Lanzarote.
The finish line awaits on La Palma next Wednesday, 23rd September.
