Colts in Ecuador

Rob Howard / 16.11.2014

I found Dayne McKnight sitting on a tree stump overlooking the beach, his legs propped up on a coconut palm outside the race hotel after his team Guambras: Biosil-Powerade had finished the race in 17th position.

It’s not his regular team as he normally competes with Bivouac Colts (New Zealand) and was brought onto the Ecuadorian team along with team mate Ryan Thompson about a month before the race. (Another Colt, Becky Law, was also on another Ecuadorian team, Finalin. They finished 13^th.)

“It was a bit of a gamble coming out here and not knowing our team mates,” he said, “but we checked out their racing history and as it’s turned out they’ve done really well.”

His two Ecuadorian teammates were both female, and the team was the first 2+2 team to cross the finish line. His team mates, Maria Vallejo and Daniela Leon were also the first Ecuadorian women to complete the race, and what’s more this was their first expedition race!  So their result is quite amazing – a triumph of the adventure racing spirit.

“We pushed them hard,” said Dayne “and they kept going. It was a lot of work with towing and carrying, but a good experience to race on a 2+2 team. They could talk to each other in Spanish when they’d had enough of us, and spoke good English. We came a week early to get to know them and met their families, and they have looked after us and run us around.

“We did find out that neither of them had paddled before!  At the start of the first paddle we had to teach them and for the whole of the final paddle we were towing them.

“Ryan was navigating but there was one bad night when both of us bombed. I can hardly remember what happened, but the girls just asked the way, headed off, and we went after them. Having Spanish speakers on the team was a big advantage here.”

I asked about his impression of the race and Ecuador and he was enthusiastic. “It’s been amazing,” he said, “by far the best race I’ve been to. It was so varied and the organisation was impressive. There were supportive marshals all over the place, and plenty of food and water at transitions – I definitely want to come here and race again.”

When I asked what surprised him he said, “The cold, I was freezing on that third trek and didn’t have enough clothes. Also that we saw no animals. We saw loads in Costa Rica, but none here.”

So the Bivouac Colts may not have taken part, but they gained a lot of experience at this race and they plan to be back with their regular team next year in Brasil. Watch out for them.

You can find more on the Bivouac Colts at http://www.bivouac.co.nz/blog/tag/bivouac-colts/

­

See All Stories On This Race