Organisers prepare for La Ruta Maya River Challenge 2006
Every March, sports fans turn their attention to the water … some to the Baron Bliss Harbour Regatta, but most to the La Ruta Maya River Challenge. Tonight we take a look at the race that will break backs in the name of bragging rights.
Janelle Chanona, Reporting
For the past seven years, everyone from amateurs, weekend warriors and professionals have braved the waters of the Macal and Belize rivers in the La Ruta Maya Challenge.
The race is designed to promote environmental awareness in the Belize River Valley, but it?s the intense competition and rigorous course that has pushed the event into the headlines.
Orlando Harrison, Chair, Organizing Committee
?We are looking forward to a very exciting race this year. We hope to at least break the record from last year with the amount of participants. We had eighty-eight teams, we are targeting ninety-six teams this year and we hope to achieve that.?
According to Chair of the La Ruta Maya Organising Committee, Orlando Harrison, this year?s race is expected to break speed records as an extra wet rainy season has raised river levels.
Orlando Harrison
?We are getting a lot of adventure people who are joining the race this year from abroad as well as local. One of the things I want to highlight here is the safety issue. Because of the height of the water and the free flow, we expect the race to be much faster, which poses a threat to the paddlers themselves, so we are enforcing rule number twenty-one which states that all participants must wear a P.D.F., a personal floatation device, to keep them safe at all times.?
?We?ve targeted to have available, prizes for each division. If fact, we?ve noted it in the rules that we are going to offer first, second, and third place prizes in every division, as well as first to tenth place prizes at the end of the race in Belize City at Belcan Bridge. One of the exciting things happening this year is the end of the race, we?ll be doing, along with the Belize Tourism Board, planning an award ceremony that should start at about one-thirty in the afternoon.?
Organisers say this year spectators will have a good vantage point to see competitors finish the first leg of the race at Banana Bank, since the ferry at Young Gal has been replaced by the Agripino Cawich Bridge.
Forty-nine teams have already signed up for La Ruta Maya. Deadline for registration is Friday evening and interested persons can sign up by calling Big H Enterprises in San Ignacio or at the race website: www.larutamayabelize.com. La Ruta Maya 2006 kicks off at first light on March third under the Hawkesworth Bridge in San Ignacio and ends on March sixth at the Belcan Bridge in Belize City.
