The Coastal Challenge
A Hot Start
Van Holmes / 23.01.2006
The 2006 Coastal Challenge has begun, and is living up to its promise of a more challenge course for an extraordinary international field. Competitors lining up on Manuel Antonia Beach near Quepos, bolted from the starting gate promptly at 10:00 a.m. The morning sun was already high, as were the runner’s spirits, which carried them quickly through their first steps up the beach. At the end of the day, racers from Coasta Rica, United States, and England had finished top 3 overall.
Correr, which means “to run� in the Spanish language, was the word of the day. A local favorite, Ronald Tores, led the pack the entire stage and finished approximately 25 minutes in front of the next best competitor. Tores covered the 33-km course in 3 hours, 30 minuets and 52 seconds, finishing with a smile and proclaiming the course so far was a “beautiful� one. Meeting a personal goal to finish first today, he has high hopes of maintaining the top spot throughout the race.
It was no surprise one of the locals came in first today. The Ticos, familiar with the heat, humidity, and terrain, set a quick pace from the start and pushed through the beating sun. But two new comers to the event, and to Costa Rica, finished a strong second and third.
Adam Chase from Boulder, Colorado, earned the second spot finishing in 3:55:10. Chase hit the hills hard and finished strong late in the day. “I started conservative and then passed about five people in the second half,“ he said. The hills were fine for Chase, who lives in the Rocky Mountains, but he wasn’t so happy with the heat. “It’s snowy now where I came from,� he laughed. See All Event Posts
