7 Cerros Medellin Adventure Race

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A great city, and a great race

19.10.2006

It's really hard to sum up what we have all experienced in Medellín this past week. I don't think that hardly any of the international teams really knew what to expect here – about the country or about the race. I sure didn't.

We are all so pleasantly surprised! Everything has just been amazing. The level of support that Jorge and Luisa have received from the mayor and local government of Medellín, and from their major sponsor Une Telecommunications, has enabled them to put on a truly world-class event. The amount of media coverage has been incredible – several pages in the newspapers every day, starting days before the race, and hours (literally!) of television coverage during the race. One channel was even broadcasting live for a while.

And with all of that support and media coverage, this entire city (nearly 3 million people) are all behind the event, following every stage. When teams were riding on the roads and weaving across traffic, EVERYONE knew what was going on and all the traffic slowed to allow them to pass. When ten or so teams showed up together at the cable-car, the whole line-up of people waiting to get on stepped aside to allow racers to go ahead of them. Every racer is being treated like a celebrity (I think some are considering moving here!)

"I told all my friends that I was going to a small race, but with all of the publicity and organization, it feels like the biggest race I've ever been to," says HALTI's Frida Rosenberg (who placed 11th at PQ this year).

The adventure race was run concurrently with three-day staged races for local individuals in trail running, orienteering, mountain biking, and inline skating – for all age groups. It was so moving for us to see the 1500 or so locals who turned up for these races, many of them just young kids! I talked to a group of little boys after they had finished one of the city orienteering routes. They looked to be about 9, but tell me they were 13. Even though the competition was for individuals, they had travelled as a team "so we don't get lost, so we can be stronger together." Another local who turned up for this race was reigning World Inline Champion Andrés Botero, who chose this event to close his professional racing career.
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