EXCLUSIVE: Footage shows Costa del Sol holidaymakers race for loungers

EXCLUSIVE – On your marks, get set – GO! Costa del Sol holidaymakers race for loungers when referee’s whistle is blown (and some Brits reveal their towels are removed by rivals) as sunbed wars heat up

• Clip captures more tourists scrambling for sun loungers at Costa del Sol hotel
• Hotel Estival Torrequebrada in Malaga was in the headlines last week

The early morning rush to grab a sun lounger before they run out has long been a ritual for Brits holidaying in the Costa del Sol.

Vacationers can sometimes barely wait for sunrise when they sprint into action – grabbing the recliners before they disappear like hotcakes.

Now, one hotel has gotten in on the craze, with a referee blowing a whistle to let guests know when it’s time for ready, steady, go.

Hilarious footage captures the moment holidaymakers get the whistle as they race to collect their sunbeds for the day. 

Holidaymaker Craig Trapps captured the footage at the Hotel Estival Torrequebrada in Malaga, where MailOnline reported other eager sun bathers grabbing loungers last week.

Hilarious footage captures the moment holidaymakers get the whistle as they race to collect their sunbeds for the day

Other tourists in southern Spain were captured grabbing loungers by the poolside early in the morning

READ MORE: TENERIFE TOURISTS ARE SPOTTED GRABBING SUNBEDS AT 6.30AM – THREE AND A HALF HOURS BEFORE POOLSIDE OPENS  

Matthew Vine filmed guests dragging the beds away from where they were chained up overnight to reserve their perfect spot for the day, and urged the early risers to ‘go back to bed’

Mr Trapps said: ‘We recently stayed at the Hotel Estival Torrequebrada in Malaga… I took a video of a bit of it.

‘I managed to get into the pool area before it opened! As you can see the bloke takes around EIGHT sunbeds.

‘I had my towels removed by the Spanish and it turned nasty and nearly ended up in a fight.

‘I nearly ended up fighting with some Spanish who literally threw my towels off beds!’

Earlier this week, Mail Online reported how other tourists at the same hotel waited for up to two hours for prime spots to grab a lounger. 

In a very British scene in southern Spain, men and women were pictured turning up long before the beach and swimming pools opened to ensure they get the best spot – and most brought a chair and a good book to pass the time.

But one witness said that once the gate opened each morning, ‘madness’ ensued, with ‘people literally running in’. Some parents shoved forward their children to sprint in and grab a sunbed because they are fitter and faster.

Charlotte Chartell told MailOnline that people were queueing up on chairs whilst reading ‘as they’ve been there so long’. 

But she also concluded ‘if you can’t beat them, join them’, following her initial shock that people were waiting in line to get a sunlounger each day.

People queue for sun loungers at Hotel Estival Torrequebrada near Malaga – many brought chairs and a good book as they waited for almost two hours before the beach and pool opened

Ms Chartell said: ‘There are two pools, but only one for children, so everyone wants to get as close as they can to the slides as well. There definitely aren’t enough sun loungers for the number of guests in the hotel. 

‘But as soon as the lifeguard opens the gate, people literally run in, someone sent their children running ahead of the adults. It’s madness. I was there the week before the holidays started so God knows what it’s like now’.

Holidaymakers across the Costa del Sol have been spotted racing each other to nab poolside sun loungers the moment sites open. 

Footage from the weekend shows a huge queue of people in holiday attire standing in a line as they hope to get their hands on the best beds.  

It comes after tourists in Tenerife were slammed as ‘sunbed warriors’ after they were spotted laying out loungers at 6.30am – three-and-a-half hours before the pool was due to open.

The footage from Benalmádena, Costa del Sol, shows hundreds of vacationers waiting outside the pool area, only to start sprinting towards the sun beds as soon as they could. 

One tourist at the resort, Laury Mackie, told MailOnline: ‘Gates open at 10am and off they go.

‘There’s a clear strategy… look at the determination in the directions they take. Watch the lifeguard and maintenance guy clearly taking the mick’.

Holidaymakers in Costa Del Sol have been spotted racing each other to nab poolside sun loungers the moment the doors open

Footage shows a huge queue of people in holiday attire standing in a line as they hope to get their hands on the best beds

The footage in Benalmádena, Costa Del Sol, shows hundreds of vacationers waiting outside the pool area, only to start sprinting towards the sun beds as soon as the doors open

One man even appears to run and grab two sun loungers from the corner of the area, put them on his back an carry them to his preferred spot. 

‘Then there’s the world’s strongest dad hurl two sun loungers over his shoulder,’ said Ms Mackie. 

‘Funnily enough most of the dads seem to run in one particular direction… towards the self service beer.’  

She added: ‘It’s hilarious viewing as we all calmly wait to wander into the Adults only pool.

‘The kids pool reminded me of the parents race at sports day in school… absolutely hilarious! I’d say there were 100 plus there each morning, god knows when they set up camp.’

People at the front of the line appear more desperate to bag their space, sprinting ahead of the crowd, while those at the back seem more defeated. 

In a similar fashion Spanish locals were seen out before dawn to lay down their towels in a prime spot on a Costa Blanca beach last week. 

The early-risers in Torrevieja proudly planted their flags in the sand even before the sun rose. 

They began setting up at 5.30am just after council cleaners finished their night shift – as similar scenes also played out just over an hour’s drive away in the popular holiday spot of Benidorm.

One local dug his sun umbrella – the red and yellow of the Spanish national flag – into the sand and plonked his deckchair beside it before disappearing. 

Another even planted a mini-Spanish flag into the top of his parasol – and stood next to it with his arms crossed in front of him as if he were defending his territory against foreign marauders. 

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