Costa Rica Adventure Race
A Very Hot Tuesday in Costa Rica
News Release / 25.08.2010
Hot!!! This was on thing everybody agreed on as they ended the mountain bike ride, stage 6 at Pedacito de Cielo in San Carlos. It’s a remote place surrounded by mountains, and at some points, the bikes had to be carried over slippery mud and the swamped trails.
Exhaustion is starting to set in. The teams took between 30 minutes and an hour to complete this stage. The next stage is the longest trekking section of the race, under a merciless sun. This must have weighed in QasarLontra’s decision to retire from the race, once they concluded the mountain bike section in control point 14. As with the Finnish Omjakon team, the remaining members Rafael Campos and Sabrina Gobbor have decided to continue the challenge without Xuxa and Victor Lopes.
Team Explore has remained first throughout the day. When they crossed the San Juan river mouth they were three hours ahead of the team Safety Smart Wear (team 16), who have had an amazing race so far. Although they have lost precious time due to navigation issues, they have been quick to overcome them and remain in second place. Amongst the members of this team is Costa Rican Ligia Madrigal, considered the best mountain bike rider in the country.
Along with team 16, the other Costa Rican team Real Costa Rica Coastal Challenge, team 5, have stood up for Costa Rica. They have done a great job during the 8 stages of the race so far. Antonio de la Rosa has stated that although Safety Smart Wear are very powerful, the Coastal Challenge team are very careful and faultless.
The second night of the race brought a much awaited fresh breeze. On arrival at control point 16 in Cocobolo, Explore took the strategic decision to rest and sleep for an hour, but their 3 hour advantage was shortened to barely 3 minutes as the Safety Smart Wear team were treading on their heels. Knowing that they were close to the Swedish team, the Finnish Multisport.fi (team 2) and the French Quechua ( team 12), speeded up and they managed to keep just a 30 minute distance between them.
The race continues. La Fortuna is next. All teams will have to rest here for 2 hours, take a bath, be interviewed, or just, sleep. Tonight everything can happen.
SleepMonsters
