The annual La Ruta Maya Belize River Challenge is the longest race of its kind in Central America. The race is one hundred and seventy miles of paddling on the Belize river over the course of four days. The race starts bright and early on a Friday morning under the Hawksworth Bridge, San Ignacio Town Cayo District and ends on Sunday after passing under the BelChina Bridge in Belize City. This year’s event saw the participation of fifty seven canoes of three and two persons team of professionals and recreationists alike. The event is one filled with excitement, and I for one was looking forward to it since the beginning of the year!

In my youth my mother often took us to the river side to watch the race pass by. Back then it was exciting just to watch the paddlers race down the river towards the finish line as they passed along the river in Lord’s Bank Village. My exposure to the event gradually increased over the years to the point where I started to entertain the idea of participating in the race one day. While attending the University of Belize I briefly contemplated joining the team to partake but never got a chance to do so.  It wasn’t until after  I joined the Belize Defence Force that I was able to finally paddle in La Ruta Maya! In 2015 I formed a part of the mixed team that participated and amazingly we placed first in our category. Since then, I have always had it in the back of my mind that I will participate in La Ruta Maya again. 

With that said, I finally decided that this would be the year I participated in the race once more, but as 2022 slowly came to an end and there were no talks at work about forming a team, I had to concede that I would not be paddling once again. Not to be deterred, I remained optimistic that I would somehow be able to participate in the event in one capacity or the other. Lo and behold, opportunity came in the form of providing medical support for the British Army Training Unit Belize (BATSUB) staff who had three teams paddling in the event this year. To say the experience was one of a kind is an understatement. In my opinion, this is a must have experience and should be on every Belizean bucket list to do at least once in their lifetime.

Being able to follow the race for the four days allowed me to enjoy many parts of the event that I didn’t get to when I participated in it before. For one, as a paddler, your focus is on one thing and one thing only: completing each day in order to make it to the next. On the other side, as a part of the support staff I was able to see all the work that goes on behind the scene and all the support needed to ensure completion of the race for its competitors. The efforts put into ensuring a team is able to focus on paddling every day includes ensuring they had proper rest, are fed well, replenished with hydration and energy on the route while paddling, and of course alleviating any aches or pain after each leg of the race in the form of a well-earned massage.

No number of words will be able to convey the excitement, enchantment, and spirit of this event so I will end the writing here and leave you with a few photographs that I believe captured a smidge of what La Ruta maya is all about. Enjoy!