2025 Canoe Racing Season Begins; M.V.P. Weighs In on Belize Basketball

Goodnight and welcome to another edition of Sports Monday, I am Paul Lopez. The biggest canoe race in the annual canoe racing calendar is upon us. Of course we are talking about the La Ruta Maya Belize River Challenge. Paddlers, in preparation for the big dance, participate in a series of races organised by the Belize Canoe Association. The association held its first race for the year on Sunday, the Loewen’s Boom to Manatee Lookout Canoe Race. Close to twenty canoes took to the Belize River and lined up at the starting line in Burrell Boom as fans flooded the riverbank. Among the paddlers were big names like Slim and Trim Like Guava Limb, Team Lucas Oil Mixed, Black Orchid Resort, and Wave Runners, to name a few. We heard from the President of the Association, Elvin Penner, at the starting line.

 

Elvin Penner, President, Belize Canoe Association

“I think excitement is definitely in the air, because normally for a race like this if we make fifteen, we do very well, and I think we will pass the fifteen by a couple. So, the serious teams. These are the teams you would see giving trouble in the Ruta Maya. These are the teams that come to every race. We have most of the serious teams looking to win a category in the La Ruta Maya. Out of the eight categories in the La Ruta Maya we have at least six winners, probably all eight. This year a lot of teams are just starting to train because sponsorship is a little hard to come by and without sponsorship you can’t buy all these equipment and be out here.”

 

And the paddlers are off. These athletes dug deep at the start to gain an early advantage in the race. And only a short distance from the starting line, one team found themselves in troubled waters, tipped over, and at a huge disadvantage. Fifty minutes into the race, we caught up with the paddlers in Lords Bank. At this point, three canoes were leading the charge, almost bow to bow. Wave Makers, Riverside Boys, and 2024 La Ruta Maya Champs, Guava Limb. Watch as they maintained momentum, gliding over that beautiful body of sun-kissed water. Lucas Oil mixed team trailed closely behind, followed by team Brothaz and a couple of other canoes pressing towards the finish. After an hour and twenty minutes of racing, it was an all-out sprint to the finish line between Guava Limb and Wave Makers. Ultimately, Wave Makers edged out Guava Limb for the victory. Riverside Boys secured the third-place position. Lucas Oil was in first place in the mixed category.

 

And from canoe racing, we move into what is unfolding within Belize’s basketball premier league. Tonight, there are still more questions than answers pertaining to the start of the season and the league that will take the lead. As we have reported, the Belize Elite Basketball League seems to be prepared to play ball this season. But a second league has emerged, the Belize Premier Basketball League, leaving fans and athletes alike asking what is next for semi-pro basketball in Belize. Well, we spoke with two-time league MVP Nigel Jones over the weekend to get his take. Here is what he had to say.

 

Nigel Jones, Pro Basketball Athlete

“I think that it could work. I just feel like with the two leagues, whatever they are trying to figure out is possible. It has to be like two different times of the year. I have seen it happen in other countries that I have played in before. You have players play at a certain time and when that season is done the following league happens right after that. So, I think it is going to take cohesiveness. Everybody will have to want to come together and work and it cant be about egos, I did this and did that. Going into the season we have to give the fans and the people that come out and support something that they want to enjoy watching, because without them it is not possible.”

 

Paul Lopez

“Do you feel like players want this type of cohesion, that it is their desire?”

 

Nigel Jones

“I feel like at the end of the day we just want to play. For all the players that is what it is for them. We just want to play ball, but we want it to be fair too. So, I feel like if we can come together and do what needs to be done as a collective unit, we can get pass this easily. There you have it, in the words of two-time MVP Nigel Jones, “We just want to play ball.”

 

And finally, in Sports Monday coverage for tonight, we bring you highlights from the Belize District Football Association’s First Division Tournament. On Friday night the number six ranked team, Kelly Street, played against the team in fourth place going into the weekend, the Reggae Boys. Fourteen minutes into the match, number sixteen for the Reggae Boys, Gentle, found himself wide open with the ball on top of the penalty box. Gentle squared up and launched towards goal, securing the first goal of the match.  At the thirty-ninth minute, Reggae Boys number eleven, Perteau scored this difficult kick from an impressive angle. And, sixty-four minutes into match number twelve, Ottley secured the goal of the match with a highflying bullet train that completely evaded the goalkeeper. Reggae Boys won this one, three goals to nothing. Well folks, that is all we have for you in tonight’s coverage of Sports Monday. I am Paul Lopez.