The BTL Cobb’s Arm Team is the winner of the 18th La Ruta Maya Belize River Challenge for the Male Division, which ended on Monday of this week by the BelCan Bridge in Belize City. This team of paddlers had to travel 180 miles along the Belize River, only to be interrupted by night stops, during four days of grueling competition. The three winners of the winning team on the final round of the race were boat captain Roy Cano, his little brother Eric Cano and cousin Clayton Cal, all from Santa Familia Village in the Cayo District, and not coincidentally, the winning team had been practicing during the last three months. Coming in second in the Belikin La Ruta Maya Belize River Challenge was the National Institute of Culture and History NICH, made up of team captain Efrain Cruz, Alexander Cruz and Felix Cruz. Coming in third, also in the Male Division was OCV Wavemakers. The accumulated time for the BTL Cobb’s Arms was 17 hours, 35 minutes and 27 seconds, followed by NICH with 17 hours, 38 minutes and 44 seconds and by OCV Wavemakers by 17 hours, 39 minutes and 21 seconds.
Some 57 canoe teams took off at precisely 7:00 am with the sound of a bugle from underneath the Hawkesworth Bridge on Friday of last week. During day one, the NICH Team was the first to reach Banana Bank and it took them four hours, fifty eight minutes and sixteen seconds to do so. Then on Saturday BTL Cobb’s Arm was the first to reach Double Head Cabbage, after going through the longest course of the four day race, taking them five hours, thirty one minutes and forty one seconds. This was followed by OCV Wavemakers being Sunday’s winner to Henderson’s Bank in Burrell Boom, which is the shortest section of the race; taking just four hours, twenty six minutes and seventy two seconds.
The Ruta Maya participants have been divided this year into Male, Female, Intramural, Mixed, Pleasure and Family categories. Both national and international competitors joined the ranks of this year’s race, some coming from as far as Japan and Canada. As for Trek Force, they had four teams participating in this year’s race.
Neither was there a shortage of sponsors this year for the Belikin La Ruta Maya Belize River Challenge, with Love FM and Bowen and Bowen providing much support and so too were the Belize Bank and Atlantic Bank. For this year NICH was also one of the main sponsors, for which it’s President, Diane Haylock would provide regular on the ground updates.
“It’s a collaboration among the many entities that has made Ruta Maya a success, every year people look forward to joining the race, whether it’s being on the river, following the race or following on radio or on the internet,” says Arlene Harrison, co-chair for the La Ruta Maya Belize River Challenge and who had travelled all the way from the United States just to be in Belize for the four day race.
Since its launch in 1998, the Challenge has become a much awaited family event, with crowds of Belizeans and international visitors alike being by the scenic banks of the Macal and Belize River, waiting for their favorite paddling teams to pass by. The success of the challenge itself now rests on various teams doing their parts to make sure that the race is a good one. For example, the Belize Safety and Rescue team was present at critical spots to ensure that no one was injured. Also, the Belize Defense Force had done a patrol of the Belize River last week, only to discover that there were some sections of the river that was very low; particularly in the area around Young Gial.
The dynamics of the Ruta Maya race has also changed from 1998, when Orlando Harrison from Big H Enterprises first launched the Vida Purified Water. According to his family member Roberto Harrison, the race is now a sporting event taking on historical, environmental and cultural facets.
