Costa Rica Joins the World Series

17.12.2009

Costa Rica, the newest member of the Adventure Race World Series will stage one of the nine races to be held around the world prior to the World Championship in Spain in October.

At the annual meeting of the AR World Series, held just after the end of this year's World Championship, staged in Portugal early in November, Costa Rica got the OK from AR World Series president Geoff Hunt. Alexander Baker, racer and co-organizer of the race in Costa Rica along with Antonio de la Rosa, racer and organizer of the Bimbache Extreme (next year's World Championship), came to agreements with the organization. The race will be held between August 20th-28th, 2010.

The course will cover a wide variety of landscapes; beaches, warm ocean, dry forests, rain forests, cloud forest, volcanoes, lakes, rivers, whitewater and even a traditional local sport will be part of this fantastic race. The race course was carefully designed and scouted by de la Rosa and Baker: "We guarantee the racers to have a great time during the race, they won’t be bored with the same scenario, and the scenery changes constantly as you proceed through the course.

“All you need is your bike and trekking gear. The organization provides climbing and paddling gear. There is no need to bring loads of clothes, a rain jacket and a couple of cycling shirts and shorts should do”, added Baker.

The race is sponsored by the Costa Rican tourist board (I.C.T.) and other local businesses and the race expects to get a lot of teams from Europe. "We already have one team from Finland, two from Spain, one from Portugal, one from France, one from Ecuador, one from Colombia, two from the U.S and three from Costa Rica," said Baker. "We have a limit for the race of thirty teams because the race passes through protected areas and we want to have a minimum impact to the environment."

The race organization will also offer friends and family an adventure tour that will visit strategic points along the race course, where they can watch their teams go by and enjoy different attractions like canopy rides, rafting, horseback riding and even the opportunity to see part of the race start from the air in a ultralight.

While the racers are having fun in the race course, their family and friends don’t have to be waiting at the check points. They can enjoy the race as much or more than the racers (they will have time to sleep) and can be at the end of the race to celebrate with their teams.