Photo by Sabadomasoquismo

PromoBike and Maxi’s Restaurant will again be sponsoring a mountain biking event in Puerto Viejo on the 17th of October.

The event will include a 74km long route and a 38km short route for riders. There will be lots of hydration stations as well as a party planned afterward.

Last years event included a route which went through the Talamanca Mountains and included a total elevation gain of 792m. While this year’s route has not yet been published, riders can expect again to be challenged!

More information is available on the event web page.

Jordan Hernandez, Winner of the 2009 Puerto Viejo Open & Airshow, Photo by Beto courtesy of www.CRSurf.com

The Puerto Viejo Open Pro surf competition is set for May 15th, 2010. The entire event is planned and organized exclusively by local surf instructor and legend Alberto “Beto” Miguel Torres Speranza. This much anticipated event is guaranteed to bring the best of the best in surfing to the area, and will surely prove to be an amazing experience.

The competition began back in July of 06’ and was first dubbed as the “Legalize” Surf Tournament. The idea behind the competition was to simply bring friends together for a day of partying, music and spectacular surf. It soon proved to be a huge success and therefore grew bigger and bigger each year with the support of the community growing as well. Competitors and spectators alike, from all over the world, come together for a day of friendly competition, stunning talent and gorgeous views.

Read the full article on www.Caribizine.com or look for it in the May issue.

The first boat crossed the finish line last night in Limon. The boat Crêpes Whaou! crossed the finish line at 22:31, taking the multihull prize and the boat Safran crossed the finish line at 02:52 to take the monohull prize.

In Puerto Viejo, visitors were excited to see 12 large 3 m x 1.5 m (9.8 ft x 4.9 ft) format artworks with a nautical theme displayed at KOKi Beach Restaurant by renowned Costa Rican artists Mario Maffioli and Fabio Herrera.

Puerto Viejo, by Fabio Herrera, is one of the 12 artworks being displayed in the show. Photo courtesy La Nación.

Sources: La Nación: Arte recibe a visitantes de la regata Transat,
SailWorld.com: Safran first IMOCA Open 60 home in Transat Jacques Vabre, Yachte: First multihull home in Transat Jacques Vabre

Thirty-one runners from as far away as Canada, France and Australia arrived in Costa Rica this week to participate in the second running of the cross-country Transtica.

The race begins on Saturday in the central Pacific town of Manuel Antonio and crosses 250 kilometers of terrain to arrive in Puerto Viejo on the Caribbean side on Nov. 26. Runners travel either 20 or 40 km (equivalent to a half or a full marathon) each day, depending on the group they’ve chosen to compete with.

What makes the competition unique is not necessarily the distances or the difficulty of the race, but the fact that runners stop in select locations to participate in social projects.

More/Source: Tico Times: Coast-to-coast humanitarian run launches on Saturday

With it are expected to come some 20,000 visitors, 5,000 all the way from Europe.  Those visitors have reserved local hotels rooms from Limon to Manzanillo and are expected to spend an estimated $25,000,000 while in the area. The estimates are based on the amount of economic impact that the race had on Salvador de Bahia, Brazil in 2007.

The race finished in Salvador de Bahia from its inception in 1993 to its last occurrence in 2007. The Costa Rican government is using these economic impacts to justify the investments they made to lure the race to Limon.

The biannual race is huge in Europe, considered one of the major sporting events of the year so will also bring lots of media attention and reporters to the area.

Transat route from La Havre France to Puerto Limon, Costa Rica

More: La Nación: Regata dejará más de $25 millones en el país

The Transat Jacques Vabre, the world’s third largest sailing race will finish up in Puerto Limon in November.  The race is expected to draw a large amount of international attention and tourism to the region with 50 vessels participating in the race and 350 journalists expected to cover it.

The race leaves France on Nov 7 and 8 and will arrive in Limon 12 days later after a voyage of some 5,000 km. Costa Rica’s Caribbean development agency JAPDEVA along with the Costa Rican Tourism Institute ICT and the municipality of Limon have plans to build a marina there for the race which will remain afterwards.

This years race theme is the Coffee Route, and Costa Rica was chosen not only because of its status as a producer of coffee but because the country has a good record of producing sustainable coffee and of protecting the environment. The race’s sponsor is a coffee producer.

Read more: La Nación: Puerto Limón será la meta de regata mundial

The annual PROMOBIKE mountain bike event in Talamanca is coming soon!

Date: October 18, 2008.
Time: 9:00 a.m.
Cost: ¢ 5,000 colones and includes assistance, T-shirt, and a raffle.

Routes start and end at Comisariato Manuel León, Puerto Viejo.

Short Route: 36 kms, level 5-6, Puerto Vieje – Cocles – Margarita – Bribri – Hone Creek – Puerto Viejo

Long Route: 74 kms, level 7, Puerto Vieje – Cocles – Margarita – Bribri – Sixaola River – Bambu – Bratsi – Suretka – Uatsi – Bribri – Hone Creek – Puerto Viejo

For more information:
(506) 8383-8223
(506) 8389-5289
promobikecr@gmail.com

The next Puerto Viejo Open Pro surf tournament, also known as the Legalize Open Pro, is set for Aug. 9 at 8 a.m. at the beach break in Playa Cocles.

Mark it on your calendars, as these tournaments are always lots of fun. For entry information, contact Beto at 8885-9688, or email reservations@cashewhilllodge.co.cr.

You can see video from January’s tournament on the Videos page.

The Puerto Viejo Open Surf Tournament for men, women, boys and girls will be held March 19, starting at 8 a.m., at the Cocles beach break. This will be a special Semana Santa tournament. For more information, call Beto at 885-9688.

And check out the great new Puerto Viejo Surf Video on the Videos page.

The organizers, Exploraciones Verde y Azul S.A., said that the events leading to the cancellation of the race were totally out of their control. The e-mail spoke of lack of support from sponsors and the government.

Although the organization’s website has not yet been updated to reflect the cancellation, organizers have disabled the registration page. They are also promising a refund of the registration fee to anyone who already registered.

The loss of this event is a loss for the community as well as the race brought attention and a different type of visitor to the area.

With reporting from A.M. Costa Rica: Organizers cancel jungle marathon planned for Puerto Viejo.