7 News Belize

They Ran Through A River
posted (March 12, 2013)
And we move on to the 4th and final day of the 2013 La Ruta Maya Belize River Challenge. It was an arduous event in which the winners had to paddle for a total of 18 and half hours over four days. 7News caught up with the winners as they crossed the finish line at the Belcan Bridge.

And surprisingly, they told us that even though they are competing against each other, they work together to get to the finish. After that, it's every team for itself:

Armin Lopez - 1st Place, Belize Bank Bulldogs
"Well, we worked together; we stayed together even with Jerry Rayburn. I want to give thanks to Jerry Rayburn and his team mates. I told them, 'If I splash you I don't mean it.' It's just sometimes we create a wave and took us into them. We talked about it and said if we go to the tape well; may the best man win. I was just looking out so that NICH doesn't beat us by than much, because I know they want to win, and their guys are a lot powerful. Oscar, Effrain and Felix they're my cousin. Those guys are really powerful."

Oscar Cordon - 2nd Place, NICH
"To them we were about 6 seconds behind, we tried to get back the seconds but I knew it wouldn't be so easy to get it back because those guys are very strong and at least; I think it was about 3 seconds they beat us overall, so I'm still happy with that."

Daniel Ortiz
"What sort of preparations does it take and how do the teams - well it's a race after all but you guys have to work a little bit to get on the river, right? I mean you need to help each other out."

Oscar Cordon
"Yes, we were actually training for 3 months. We always train together and we always see what those guys are doing, and try keep together. In training, we can almost say what will happen, and this year - like let's say, it can be you or us. Whoever slips up will lose the race."

Jerry Rhaburn - 3rd Place, Ziprider
"I know we did well. I'm proud of my guys. We don't have any regrets. We came out and raced all the athletes. We came out to do our job and that's what we did."

The Belize Bank Bulldogs just barely edged out team NICH by 3 seconds, when they finished the race with a total time of 18 hours, 31 minutes, and 21 seconds. NICH's total time was 18 hours, 31 minutes, and 24 seconds. Ziprider was next, Westrac was fourth, and BTL Cobbs Arm was 5th.

Home | Archives | Downloads/Podcasts | Advertise | Contact Us

7 News Belize