Huairasinchi - The 2014 Adventure Racing World Championships

Huairasinchi Ends With a Bang

Anne-Marie Dunhill / 18.11.2014

The Adventure Racing World Championships for 2014 are now officially closed, following the prize giving ceremony this evening in Quito. Held in the Yaku Water Museum, the venue was spectacular (“yaku” means water in the Kichwa language.) Perched on a hill high above the sprawling city of Quito, thousands of golden city lights twinkled for kilometers far below.

The speeches, in both Spanish and English, were brief.  The race director Santiago López’s speech was especially touching when he said  « I hope that everyone will come away from this race a little bit better, we here will remember this forever ! » Organizing a race on this scale is a massive undertaking and the Huairasinchi team can be justifiably proud for they met the challenge with elegance and efficiency.

After the speeches the race film was shown and racers laughed and cheered when the images from the rapids in which the majority had capsized came on the screen. The first three teams from Ecuador were then called to the stage to a thundering round of applause.

Afterwards, the top six teams were called on the stage one by one to receive their trophies which were hand crafted wooden boats. In sixth place was UK-adidas TERREX, followed by FR-Green Caffte Costa Rica-UPS Adventure-Haute Maurienne/Vanoise, in fourth place USA-Tecnu, third place Ecuador-Movistar, second place Spain-Columbia Vidaraid and then NZ-Seagate in first place.  Nathan Fa ‘avae’s team had regained the title of World Champions and admirers crowded around to have their photos taken with them.

A fireworks display was followed by a buffet and teams mingled and tried to talk to each other but the local band playing made that difficult and many migrated out to the terrace. Many have flights out tonight or early tomorrow morning so the ballet of buses in front of the Yaku Water Museum began at 20 :30.

Arthur was the only member of this epic journey who wasn’t in attendance.

This wraps up our coverage of the 2014 Adventure Racing World Championships, it has been a pleasure for all to discover this fabulous country. As Nathan said in his speech, « thank you for the opportunity to come and race and explore Ecuador. »  We wish all of the athletes and volunteers the safest of journeys home. Vayan con Dios, amigos !

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