The Costa Rica Coast to Coast Challenge Race
450 km race starts Sunday
Jacqueline Windh / 09.03.2007
The race will start at noon Sunday on the Pacific Coast somewhere south of Manuel Antonio. There are only 5 stages to the race so racers will only see their cases 4 times during the entire race. There are 2 stages of biking, 1 trekking stage, 1 rafting stage and 1 sea kayaking stage of about 100 kms.
There will be a Dark Zone and Mandatory Stop. This will be a bit of a new twist to the race. We are not completely sure on how it will work but have decided to give it a try. There will be a rafting section on the Pacuare River, considered to be one of the five most scenic rivers for rafting in the world.
The rafting will start at El Nido Del Tigre Camp and finish at Finca Pacuarito, both of which are camps on the Pacuare complete with comfortable tents on wooden platforms. The Dark Zone for this section is from 2:30 pm to 6 am – a very long time to wait around if you happen to get there at 2:31 pm. So, in the attempt to offset this we have included a mandatory stop of 8 hours that can be taken at either one of the camps.
The moment racers arrive at El Nido camp they will have to tell race officials where they will take the 8 hours. These 8 hours can be taken during the dark zone. For example, if you get to El Nido at 10 pm you could take the 8 hours right away and be able to leave at 6 am. If you get to El Nido during hours when the rafting section is open then you would probably choose to raft down and take the 8 hours at Finca Pacuarito. It will definitely be an interesting component to the race.
Renee, a supporter of team Dark Horse and race volunteer, has for the past few years brought down school supplies and donated them to a school along the route. She has always talked about how we should incorporate this type of donation into the race so this year we will give it a try. We are in communication with a school along the way to find out what they need. It is a small school with just 13 students – grades 1 through 6. The way it will work is each team will be required to donate 1 kg of school supplies. They can keep this 1 kg package until they get to the transition before the school. The school will be a PC.
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