The Coastal Challenge
Débats Races Clear at the Coastal Challenge
Press Release / 15.02.2018
The fourth stage of The Coastal Challenge included 37km of trail and 2500m of accumulated elevation. It was a sunny day in the southern part of Costa Rica where the competitors made a steep climb from sea level to 1000m in the Fila Costeña mountain range that runs from Dominical to Palmar Norte.
The initial climb was completed in just 10km, and this makes a difference in those routes where climbing is your forte.
The next 25k were a roller coaster of climbs and descents along the ridge for a final steep decline that took competitors to the town of Palmar Norte where they crossed the bridge over the Rio Grande de Térraba (Carretera Interameticana) to get to the finish line.
Men's Race
Again Tom Evans and Hayden Hawks set the pace for the stage. Hayden says he is giving everything he has to leave behind Evans, but Evans has an advantage of just four minutes over Hawks and in the stage tomorrow things can change.
The pair finished today's stage in 3h:56m, an amazing time considering the cumulative rise in 37km and this was another record stage.
American, Timothy Olson who was running in third position suffered a nasty blow to one of his ankles and was forced to withdraw from the competition. Olson had already cut time from the leaders and ran a spectacular stage. Olson says it was feeling better with each passing stage and was now running his best time so far.
Jorge Paniagua runs in fifth position, just 15 minutes ahead of Mike Wardian in fourth place. Paniagua is followed by Neruda Céspedes less than two minutes back, while Erick Agüero is 12 minutes back from Céspedes and Ashur Youseffi Agüero a minute further back. The fight between the international runners to achieve the top 5 place is strong.
Women's Race
Ragna Débats is now 2h: 56m in front of the Portuguese Ester Alves. Esther champion in 2016 ran the stage with the American Suzanna Guadarrama who managed to improve to third place ahead of the Colombian Mirta Reaple.
- Tom Evans 3:56:41
- Hayden Hawks 3:56:41
- Marcus Scotney 4:17:49
- Jorge Paniagua 4:38:01
- Erick Aguero 4:38:51
- Ragna Debats 4:52:05
- Suzanna Guadarrama 5:33:22
- Ester Alves 5:33:24
- Mirta Reaple 6:42:12
- Josephine Adams 6:47:27
Stage results and accumulated times: https://www.webscorer.com/seriesresult?seriesid=125068
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