Ruta Maya canoe race finishes in Belize City
It was the first of its kind and rarely in Belize has an inaugural event caught on with such a bang. On Friday News Five’s Patrick Jones was on hand for the start of La Ruta Maya River Challenge…and on Monday he caught the finish.
Menno Penner, Canoeist
“Now I know why this race named the way they named it. It?s a challenge. A real challenge.”
It was a grueling test of stamina and skill on the Belize Old River. Three and a half days of canoeing along the route once used as the main highway connecting San Ignacio with Belize City.
Benjamin Cruz, Programme For Belize
“It was tough, very hard; there were good competitors.”
Some of whom were only team mates for the holiday weekend.
Rueben Fernandez, Team D.F.C.
“We’re just a pickup team, right. We didn’t have any training or anything like that so, we should be satisfied. Just jumped in a canoe and traveled all the way from San Ignacio to Belize City, that’s very tough. Takes men with great heart to do it, right.”
Thirty one teams of three each, set out on the cross country race last Friday morning; but by the time they pulled up at the mouth of the Haulover Creek Monday afternoon, only twenty two teams – including this one with only two members – crossed the finish line.
Mike Green, Organizer, Ruta Maya River Challenge
“Boy I tell you this was a long race. Three and a half days of watching these guys paddle. There are some great, great athletes out there in those canoes; it?s unbelievable.”
But believe it or not, not even the physical toll the event took on their bodies, was enough to dampen the spirits of these brave men and women, some of whom were paddling a canoe for the very first time.
Alfonso Lind, Canoeist
“As an independent team out there, it was hard but we did it and still, I’m going back next weekend to the next race they are having in Cayo again, I plan to get back into that this weekend right here again.”
Pedro Caretella, Canoeist
“Kinda hard, tough right. But with courage we made it, right.”
John Wendling, Canoeist
“It was very chaotic through the start. It was just long hard trudging, paddling, paddling, paddling, just stick with it and lots of rapids and obstacles, things like that.”
Urvin Haylock, Canoeist
“It was beautiful. You have a couple falls down the river, between Cayo and Banana Bank, it was great.”
Apart from marking the launch of a new product, Vida Purified Water by Cayo Tropical Fruits Limited, the race sought to highlight the environmental, touristic and historical aspects of development along the Belize River. Organizers say those objectives were met many times over, and for some of the participants it was an opportunity to live out their fantasies.
Benjamin Cruz, Team Programme For Belize
“I think we did well. It was the first time that we were in this kind of thing. It was the first time I even went paddling in a canoe.”
Menno Penner
“One reason why I decided to come was to see wildlife. And I wanted to see the manatee. I’ve lived here for forty years in Belize and I never saw a manatee, but this time just before the Haulover Bridge we saw three manatees so?”
Q: “So a lifelong dream of yours was fulfilled?”
Menno Penner
“I will never forget this. I will never forget this trip.”
The first ever La Ruta Maya River Challenge is now one for the history books. The Hob brothers: Palermo, Julio and Thiodolfo from the village of Bullet Tree Falls, outlasted the other teams, winning the one hundred and seventy five mile race in a cumulative time of twenty three hours, fifty minutes and fifty eight seconds.
Thomas Caretella, Canoeist
“I don’t know what to say about some of them, I don’t know what they eat, or something that they were doing but they were so fast. I mean, I’m a good paddler but these guys were better than I am.”
Second place went to the Belize Bank team while the Pine Lumber team took third. If the size of the crowds along the one hundred and seventy five mile route is any indication, then next year’s cross country canoeing classic should be an even bigger success. This year?s participants will probably need every one of those three hundred and sixty five days to work the pain out of those tired muscles. Patrick Jones, for News Five.
Actually, as strange as it may seem, a number of competitors will be taking to the water again this Saturday for the “Eco-Down and Up” river regatta. This canoe race begins at Edison Coleman Park in Benque Viejo, goes down the Mopan River to its union with the Macal, and then up the Macal to finish at the Hawksworth Bridge. The annual event is organized by Cayo’s Radio Ritmo with the objective of promoting river conservation.
