Maya Mountain Challenge
All Routes Lead to CP26 - Eventually
Press Release / 01.03.2018
Teams were offered a hot meal at TA 5 before packing up and moving out. With some sleep and a full belly, teams were hoping to start gaining some time back for the challenging navigation on leg 5.
Leg 6, a ~75 mile bike ride began with fast, rolling pavement, but soon returned the racers to gravel roads to nab CP 18 at a stream crossing. Naturex headed out to TA 5 about 3am but had some navigation challenges heading to CP 19 that slowed them down a bit. This section of the bike course requires them to pass through a mountain gap by traveling on some orchard trails before finding some local hunting trails (a fore-warned short hike-a-bike) and then pass through more orchards before returning to gravel roads on the other side of the range. A few of the teams also seem to have had some trouble finding the road to CP18 but eventually back tracked for it.
After passing through the gap, racers headed back to CP 19 at Davis Falls on a gravel road that featured numerous river crossings. The road is pretty good, but the water crossings are wide so it surely slowed teams down a bit. The road eventually gives way to a grass road and then a single track path before ending at the base of towering Davis Falls. At over 500 feet, standing at the bottom is surely a humbling experience. Teams seemed to keep similar time on this leg, slowed a little by the route finding, but then getting a good pace going after finding the track.
The remainder of this 75-mile bike leg is flat gravel roads and is pretty straight forward. It’s a long haul up the Coastal Hwy, a flat open gravel road that connects Belize’s coastal towns to the heart of the savannah land in the center of Belize. As temperatures rose into the upper 80s, teams surely were feeling the brutality of the sun.
Racers knew they were all pushing for a Dark Zone at CP 26. Here racers needed to have left the CP by 1:30pm or they would not be able to leave until 3am. Enforcing the DZ allowed racers to begin the pack rafting section at day break since it begins in a narrow creek bed that will require some maneuvering around boulders (this will probably be done more on foot).
With this in mind, teams continued to push hard to advance on the course, but after a scorcher of a day and a ride up a sun-drenched coastal road, Naturex had put a solid lead on the others including 2nd place team Bones. It seemed like they were poised to pull away but in the sport of adventure racing, nothing is ever certain.
At TA 6, teams transition to foot for an 18-mile trek. The trail between TA 6 and TA 7 is a low land Savannah trail, with a different type of vegetation than the high canopy of the jungle. Though a flatter profile and lower vegetation, it is nonetheless very dense at times and can be tricky to see at night. Further, animal trails criss-cross the trail in abundance. Diligence would be key. From CP 24, there is a little more of this trail and then nice gravel roads into TA7. Once teams got to CP 24, it is highly likely their pace would pick up a good bit.
After grabbing CP 23, Naturex initially headed west on the correct trail to CP 24 (the online viewer shows an old trail that was scrapped pre-race and replaced by another because of the condition of the original trail – some people have asked why the trackers were so far off the route). Although appearing to travel on this trail for a good while, Naturex then turned around, headed back to CP 23 and turned north where they remained for a considerable amount of time.
That’s when Bones snuck in underneath them, hit the correct trail, and pulled well ahead of all the other teams as they continued to search. It’s fun to watch the tracker paths, but for a few minutes, Naturex and Bones might have crossed paths and who knows what would have played out had they been traveling together. Roy Malone of Team Bones says that it was an exceptionally challenging feat of navigation but credits the entire team for contributing, staying diligent, and thanks them for a great team effort.
Naturex remained confused about the correct route for several hours, before eventually returning to CP 23 and giving their initial path another try. By this time, Agde Raid Adventure had also reached CP 23 so they began traveling together - this time they were successful, but Bones had already jumped to a huge lead.
Once through TA 7, the bike ride was a quick 30 mile spin on fast gravel roads to CP 26 after leaving the Santander Sugar Plantation. With the hard part over, teams could just make a mad dash for the dark zone – and boy was Bones close!! We were all watching from the TA with anxious breath waiting to see if they were going to make it. In the end, they were just over the cut-off, but are now enjoying a bit of hot food from the onsite restaurant, grabbing some much needed sleep, and will start fresh in the morning.
To explain the Dark Zone at CP 26, it is another of Belize’s Archaeological wonders – Barton Creek Cave. Here the racers have to drop their bikes, use 2 canoes to paddle into a river cave and punch the point that is about 1km inside. Why is TA 8 not the DZ? Simply because TA 8 is nothing more than a parking lot. This would have been extremely uncomfortable for a 10-hour DZ. So why not just make CP 26 the TA? And why are the racers biking in and biking out? Essentially it is because the DZ was already a long one given the length of the pack raft section and we didn’t want to extend it any longer. By allowing the racers to bike out of CP 26, it allowed them to cover that ground faster and we could let them leave a little later in the day.
As it turns out, it looks like it’s going to be a party in the DZ tonight! Earlier on in the race, as the remaining teams made their way up the coastal highway to TA 6, the decision was made to advance those teams so that they had a chance to make the dark zone and complete the pack raft. It looks like the move was made at the right time and Tubaina, AdeoRun, Mexico Cemac Teluca, and Good’nuff DSN74 will make it to the dark zone with some time to spare. These teams will be noted as on a “short course” but will still be official.
Since Naturex and Agde Raid Adventure eventually found CP 24, they remain on the full course with Bones, but it is unlikely that they’ll be able to make up the amount of time lost on Leg 6.
We’ll see what happens when the sun rises!
SleepMonsters
