Costa Rica: The Coastal Challenge
Camaraderie in the Team Category
29.01.2008
Attempting a multi-stage, week-long expedition race covering more than 200 kilometers can be a daunting challenge. However, doing so as part of a team can provide extra encouragement and camaraderie, while adding an element of international pride and competition. The Coastal Challenge introduced a Team Expedition category to this year’s event, and six teams from around the world registered, including groups from Austria, Canada, Costa Rica, Great Britain, Spain, and the United States. While the competitive focus is still largely on individual performance, the team element, based on responses from two days on the course, has quickly become a fun and fulfilling addition.
“It (running as a team) takes the focus off the next 30k of the race,� said Nicola MacLeod, a physician from Scotland who, along with two other Britons, makes up Team Helly Hanson - United Kingdom.
“We did it to come on holiday and experience Costa Rica,� continued Nicola. “Local guides show you the best bits of the country.� Similarly, England’s Gideon Burke, an officer in the British Army, cited team strategy as an asset, saying his teammates help to maintain his pace.
Team Quebec, featuring three women competing in their first expedition race, is running to raise funds for the Quebec Breast Cancer Foundation.
“We were looking for a race that we could compete in as a team,� said Mireille Audet, who listed “finishing together� as the team’s primary goal. When asked how the team prepared for a tropical expedition race from snow-filled Canada, Iris Tremblay, also from Quebec, cited a mix of training elements as key to proper training. “We trained hard with a lot of cardio and also went to hot (Bikram) yoga classes,� said Tremblay.
Running out to the overall lead after day two, Team Spain, featuring six racing veterans – including Manuel Alonzo Morales, Javier Hernandez Sansalvador, Jose Romero Idlesias, Manuel Lopez Becerra, Emelio Jose Martinez Quijada, and Jose Olivera - has a leg up on the competition despite battling jetlag after arriving just hours before the start of the race. Luckily, with six members, the team can afford to have its members pace themselves because team scores are calculated by totaling the team’s three top individual times. See All Event Posts
