Costa Rica: The Coastal Challenge 2009
First-place female Ligia Madrigal says
Jacqueline Windh / 23.02.2009
Two weeks after the fifth edition of The Coastal Challenge ended, I think most of the racers have managed to hobble home (I know a few were taking the opportunity to spend extra time in Costa Rica) and to process everything they went through over the week of the race.
I had some good chats with fellow racers on journey back to San Jose following the race (and it was a beautiful journey, by boat on the open ocean and then by bus), and I have also been in frequent email contact with my new friends from Project Athena and elsewhere. So I know that I am not alone in my post-race processing....
Coming out from that race - which, for me at least, is the biggest physical and mental challenge I have ever set myself - I just feel an extraordinary sense of toughness. I cannot honestly say that I “enjoyed� the whole race - there were moments (many of them) of extreme pain, extreme exhaustion, extreme frustration. But the feeling of having overcome them, and having pushed on in spite of them and making it to the end, is simply spectacular.
Highlights of the experience are many - among them, I have to draw attention to the spectacular route the organizers came up with, that blends physical challenge and variety (from rivers to mud to jungles to beaches) with extraordinary and unique scenery. And the other highlight for many is the new friendships - the camp setting, where you are surrounded by another 70 or so like-minded adventurers who choose to suffer on their vacations, and where you are well taken care of by a smiling crew of staff and volunteers.
And yes, how can I write my wrap-up article without mentioning the staff and volunteers... The food was great (as it always is here), both tasty and racer-appropriate with lots of choices. The staff were wonderful, both in terms of event planning and route design, and in terms of organizing logistics quite spectacularly considering how remote we were, and how little infrastructure is actually there for them to work with.
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