The 2024 Belikin La Ruta Maya Belize River Challenge has come to an end and the reigning champs Slim and Trim Like Guava Limb have once again come out on top. The three-man team, competing in the male category, dominated the competition, securing the fastest time on all four days. The race began last Friday at the foot of the Hawkesworth Bridge in San Ignacio, Cayo and ended after a four-day journey at the Belcan Bridge in Belize City on Monday. News Five’s Britney Gordon attended the event to capture the moment the winners crossed the finish line. Here’s the story.
Britney Gordon, Reporting
Day four of the 2024 Belikin La Ruta Maya Belize River Challenge concluded with no less excitement than its previous days. Thousands of Belizeans across the country lined the banks of the winding tributary. They were there to see if team Slim and Trim Like Guava Limb, would once again be victorious, or if they would be overtaken by team Lucas Oil Male. Before the final race, we checked in with team Guava Limb for an update.
Andres Cabb, Paddler, Team Slim & Trim Like Guava Limb
“We feel happy and pressured at the same time because we know we have time on the other guys and they will want to go hard to drop us and put the time back. It’s excitement. Yeah. With the help of God, we’re gonna win.”
Also leading in their category was team Lucas Oil Mixed, which was in sixth place overall at the start of day four.
Milenie Cabb, Paddler, Team Lucas Oil Mixed
“I feel good and I thank God that he’s helping us giving us strength and the and help so to keep it up,”
Britney Gordon
“Are you guys prepared for today?”
Milenie Cabb
“Well, yeah, we are getting prepared yet.“
“So, confident going into this?”
Milenie Cabb
“Yeah, first God if we don’t flip I know that we can do it out 0:47 again.”
Unfortunately for team Lucas Oil Mixed, their canoe would be the first to overturn at the start of the race near Paradise River Landing in Burrell Boom. The team then spent the entirety of the race making up for the time lost and still managed to finish first in its category overall.
Clayton Cabb, Paddler, Team Lucas Oil Male
“I feel a little bit disappointed because we flip at the beginning, like how I said this morning, if we will first God do good and come first place, if it we does not flip, but we did flip at the start. So we lost time there, and then we stay way behind, but thank God we made it second place here on the fourth day, but overall we have the first place in a mixed category.”
Another woman overcoming adversity in this race was Lily Cruz of the Belize Port Authority team, who was paddling in the Women’s Category. Cruz had suffered an injury to her finger the previous day and was taken to the hospital but was back on the water for the final day. She told us that she was paddling for all women and girls watching her and her team.
Lily Cruz, Paddler, Team Belize Port Authority
“We are representing the women empowering each one of us, telling, we are strong, believing we are strong, and knowing our value and the gender equality. I guess we should be the same as in the male because in each race, they see the woman as a little less than the male and there is a little less prize for us than what there is for the male. So I guess we are rowing to say that we need equality and believe there is equality.”
Although the shortest, the final leg of the race had much room for exhilaration as the gap between Team Guava Limb and team Lucas Oil Male became smaller, the closer the two came to the finish line. Tensions rose as the finish line approached and Lucas Oil managed to overtake Guava Limb for a few minutes. The Belcan Bridge was filled with onlookers, craning their necks over the edge to see which team would be the one to finish first as the race was neck and neck. Ultimately, the answer became known and Team Guava Limb was, once again, the champions. This time, with a four-day winning streak.
Javier Guardado, Paddler, Team Slim & Trim Like Guava Limb
“First of all, I would like to give thanks to God for giving us the strength and courage and to sponsor Guava Limb and well, I feel proud of myself and of my teammates too. We worked hard and we did it.”
Britney Gordon
“I know at the end there, it almost seemed like you guys were going to be passed at the finish line and you guys fought really hard to get that first place. What was that experience like?”
Javier Guardado
“Well, you know, we give it our all, the bridge was there. We give it our all and we did.”
“So you guys satisfied with your overall performance these past four days?”
Javier Guardado
“Yes. We are, we are pretty satisfied. We won the four days.”
Britney Gordon
”And being that you guys came from being in second place in 2022, first place last year and first place again, how are you guys going into the next year for next year’s La Ruta Maya?”
“Well, we’ll see what’s happened. You never know what will happen, but hopefully we could get the first place for next year too.”
With a race so close, the team in second place had given it their all, but ultimately, were not able to overcome the setbacks they had encountered on day two, said Clayton Cabb of team Lucas Oil Male.
“I think what really happened was we had a mess up the second day, which will last like the four and a half minutes. That, that I think got us a little bit mentally, right? We tried to work yesterday to cover some of it, but yeah, there’s too many strong teams. They’re like five, six top teams and in high water you can barely do anything because they’ll just tag along and then it’s heavy so you cannot pull out from all those big teams. It’s hard. It’s hard. Nonetheless, we tried. We couldn’t do it, but overall, I’m proud of what we have done and what we have accomplished.”
And although disappointed at the loss, team Lucas Oil Male was very proud of the team’s performance for both male and mixed categories.
“I’m really proud of my mixed team. I am I’m the manager and owner of Ultimate Electrical Solutions. So I’m co sponsored with Westrack. My wife too, that’s our electrical company. So I’m really proud of all our partners. They flip, the mixed team flipped every day. Nonetheless, they’re still, overall, I think they were sixth today, this morning. They might have lost that sixth place, but for you to see that they can flip, come way from behind, still catch up the other mixed team, still catch up. Well, they used to catch up also every day, almost. That speaks with the quality of training that Westrack allows us to have. Without that training, without that support from Westrack, I don’t think that is out possible.”
Britney Gordon for News Five.
