La Ruta Maya 2025 False Start and Controversial Finish

The 2025 La Ruta Maya Belize River Challenge had an eventful start this morning with its first-ever false start. As the race official was counting down, most teams took off before the starting horn was blown. They covered a lot of ground before realizing they had to turn back and restart. Once the race officially began, the fifty-four teams paddled for five and a half hours to reach the finish line in Banana Bank. The first of four stages ended with a controversial finish. Paul Lopez was there to cover the race and filed this report.

 

Paul Lopez, Reporting

La Ruta Maya Belize River Challenge had a rocky start this morning. Paddlers gathered under the Hawksworth Bridge, but most teams took off before the starting horn sounded.

 

Several teams stayed behind after the false start.

 

Paddler

“Deh got the fault, they start five four, you don’t do that. You blow the horn and let everybody go.”

 

Fernando Oliva, Ready for Life, Male Pro

“More than half of the competitors didn’t move off this morning. It was just a communication issue. The officials did not say go. Someone else said go and it was the official’s time.”

 

Paul Lopez

“What do you wait for or listen for before taking off?”

 

Fernando Oliva

“In any competition, race, Olympics, it is an issue to pay keen attention on the voice that is the official voice. It could be a gun, a signal. You just have to focus, eliminate the noise from the crowd.”

 

After some deliberation, the event organizers decided to restart the race. The challenge was that many of the canoes, including the defending champions Slim and Trim Like Guava Limb, were already far ahead.

 

Emil Bradley, Manager, Guava Limb

“I don’t know which horn sounded but a horn sounded. It is the excitement. I didn’t know it was false until I saw some canoes and then they said it was a false start. It takes a lot out of a team to sprint to the distance where they turn back. It takes a lot, but everybody has to do the same thing, so yeah.”

 

One hour later, at eight a.m., all paddlers were back at the starting line and this time they got it right. Mayor Earl Trapp was present to welcome spectators to the Twin Towns.

 

Earl Trapp, Mayor, SI/SE

“I look at it as a very key and important race starting here in San Ignacio especially as it relates to tourism. This is a tourist destination and it brings many visitors from a far into our community. So, it definitely helps to stimulate the local economy.”

 

On the first day of the four-day race, paddlers set off from San Ignacio and made their way to the riverside in Banana Bank. About an hour and a half into the race, we caught up with them at the Baking Pot Ferry. Leading the pack were three teams: the defending champions Guava Limb, Memory Lane Global Mission, and Team Lucas Oil/Westrac. Interestingly, Team Lucas, which includes two men and a woman, is giving the two elite all-male teams a serious challenge.

 

Armin Lopez, Coach, Team Lucas Oil/ Westrac

“I think they have enough, no excuse, they have enough training, because we have a good sponsor, Westrac. Thank God they have a good sponsor. We really happy that Westrac the sponsor us and the give us a good support.”

 

Five and a half hours into the race, six lead canoes rounded the bend into the final stretch at the riverside in Banana Bank. With just under two hundred meters to go, Guava Limb and Global Missions broke away from the pack. They were neck and neck, sprinting towards the finish line. Suddenly, their canoes collided, nearly causing both teams to capsize. They quickly recovered, but Memory Lane Global Mission managed to gain a slight edge, crossing the finish line first to win stage one. Guava Limb followed just a few seconds later, securing second place. Team Lucas Oil came in third.

 

Carlos Lenares, Paddler, Memory Lane Global Mission

“Well you know the finishing is there, collapse happens, canoes stick and thing. They have certain things that you can’t avoid. I hear that they are going to protest on us because they say we hold their canoe, but everybody out here saw what happened. So, they could go head and protest. In life you have to learn to lose.”

 

Javier Guardado, Paddler, Guava Limb

“What exactly happened, those guys held our canoe and that was the problem there.”

 

Paul Lopez

“So you felt a hold?”

 

Javier Guardado

“I saw him hold my canoe.”

 

Paul Lopez

“So how do you go about settling this, do you go and make a protest, or do you reset and go into tomorrow?”

 

Javier Guardado

“Well, we have three days more left to go and we have God and faith and our teammates, so yeah.”

 

Reporting for News Five, I am Paul Lopez