Last year when Team Belize won, the Mynars did not paddle since not all their members were around for the race. For this year?s race, not only did they have their best paddlers back with the team,

they also reinforced the team by getting one of the best paddlers from Canada to paddle with them. Seeing the team the Mynars had this year very few people thought that any team could beat them.

Another reason why other paddlers thought we would not be able to win is due to our team not using Kayak paddles. Kayak paddles are faster but they also burn much more energy. Even though barely anybody thought we could win, all the Belizean members of our team felt very confident. Most people felt that our guys are fast but would not be strong enough to keep up the speed for the entire race. Not only did our team keep the speed, they had enough energy left to put even more pressure on the Mynars the second day.

The race started out very exciting with a total of 101 canoes and kayaks. In fact most fans said this was the closest and most exciting race they ever witnessed. Team Belize had a great start but the Mynars soon caught up and passed us. For the first 10 hours the teams kept switching leads. At about 12 hours into the race Team Belize slowly started to leave the Mynars behind, gaining a few minutes at every checkpoint. The Mynars had to start using their Kayak paddles most of the time in order not to lose too much time. This got them tired and towards the evening of the second day the gap grew much faster to where Team Belize won the race in exactly 48 hours, beating the Mynars by 45 minutes.

During the race we spent a lot of time on the riverbanks with the support crew of the Mynars team. During the time the teams kept close together, everybody got excited when they passed. But when the gap opened up a bit the attitude of some of the Mynars? support crew was not so nice. It was obvious that they were not used to losing. This was very different from what we are used to. Here in Belize during the Ruta Maya the teams compete on the river, but we all remain friends and have fun together, win or lose.

We need to thank the sponsors because without them we could not have won. The sponsors are: Grupo Taca, Marco Industries, A & B Loewen Construction, Hopkins Bay Resort, Belizean Dreams, Koop Sheet Metal, Belize Tourism Board and the Belize Canoe Association.