20th anniversary of the TUI Palma Marathon

The Briton Jemima Cooper and the Italian Luca Cantoni won the half marathon distance; and the French Liv Westphal and the German René Menzel took the victory in the 9km race.

The TUI Palma Marathon Mallorca 2024 celebrated its twentieth edition today with more than 8,000 runners participating in the three distances (9k, 21k and 42k) that are contested and is consolidated as the largest running event in the Balearic Islands, and one of the events with the highest female participation in Europe with 44% of registered women.

The German Annika Uckel with 2h56:47 and the Moroccan based in Mallorca Aziz Boutoiz (2h28:23) have achieved victory in the queen distance of the day, in the marathon. Uckel dominated the race from the starting gun, followed by the Belgian Hannelore Polleunis, second at the finish line in her debut in the distance of 42,195 meters, and by the American Shannon Kelsey Schiltus, third.

Aziz Boutoiz has achieved his second victory in the Palma marathon, stopping the clock at 2h28:23, after the one in 2022 with a circuit record included, despite the good performance of the Balearic Toni Roca, second with 2h31:05, who completed the first kilometres as leader. The Norwegian Thomas Kjetland was third (2h35:39).

In the half marathon distance, the British Jemima Cooper with 1h23:50 and the Italian Luca Cantoni with 1h09:03 were the winners in the half marathon. The German international athlete René Menzel, who won the half marathon in 2023, was the fastest in the shortest distance of the day (9 kilometres) with 28:38, and the French Liv Westphal won the 9k in the women’s category with 32:37.

The organisation of the TUI Palma Marathon Mallorca has paid tribute to Mari Carmen Soler, a visually impaired runner and triathlete from the Balearic Islands, by awarding her the “Golden Bib” of this edition. Soler thus joins the club of Balearic athletes who have received it, succeeding Caridad Jerez, Emilio de la Cámara, Miquel Capó and Toni Peña.

The awards ceremony was attended by Ms Clara del Moral Torres, Island Director of Tourism for the Consell de Mallorca; David Salom, General Director of Sports for the Palma City Council; Sebastian Ebel, CEO of TUI Group; Peter Krueger, Chief Strategy Officer and CEO Holiday Experiences, TUI Group; and Thomas Ellerbeck, member of the Group Executive Committee and Group Director Corporate & External Affairs for TUI Group.

The TUI Palma Marathon Mallorca is organised by Kumulus, in collaboration with Palma City Council and with the main sponsorship of TUI, the Fundació Mallorca Turisme and co-financed by the Sustainable Tourism Tax fund of the Balearic Islands Government. Collaborators include: 361º, Zafiro Hotels, Proa Group, Fornes Logistics and Port de Palma, among others.