Fourth Annual
It is an area of just 5 Km East to West and 4 Km North to South, but the fourth race in the area found 80% new trails, and used connector trails from past years to make an interesting race day.
As with past years there were about 70 racers on 26 teams and all except 4 were from the Baja area. The race continues to generate interest and keep Adventure Racing alive in Baja. We were happy to have a team from Brazil in this years race so it has become international (well sort-of).
This is a 2-day event with people showing up Saturday to play with the kayaks while all day Sunday is taken up with the Niño race followed by the parents racing.
Kayak lessons on Saturday were full with two groups of 20 kayaks (40 paddlers at a time) playing and learning how to get through the surf and fall out of their kayaks.
This race is made possible by Rancho La Bufadora, who allow everyone to camp for free over the weekend and Baja Aquatics, who allow use of the kayaks for practice and the race.
The race started with a short run of just 6 Km, but racing along the cliff trails and up the steep hills in no easy task, no matter how good a runner.
Following the run was a 12 Km bike section, over a course created one month earlier for a Baja MTB event. The course started with a steep climb on an old jeep trail, then meandered on horse paths through the cactus to the top of the hill. The MTB loop then proceeded down hill on soft sand and finally into a narrow canyon where the handlebars were inches from the dirt walls. As a bonus option racers could gather additional points by taking a 4 Km loop down an abandoned trail to a checkpoint overgrown by desert “weeds”.
Seven of the teams completed the entire course to take the top 7 spots, with Ramon Escobar taking first place solo, and Locos being the first team to finish in second place. Full results posted here: http://www.baadventures.com/event09LaBuf.html Unfortunately navigation got the best of two teams who arrived at the finish 30 minutes ahead of first place but they failed to find the elusive optional checkpoint.
The last part of the race was the kayak, and by the time teams got to the TA for the final section they were content to maintain their place and leisurely paddle to the two checkpoints (one was tied 2 meters down a buoy line and they had to dive for it).
We do not keep track of finish position in the Niño race, as all participants are considered winners. Part of their race is to pick up trash and learn about being guardians of the environment. We are not sure how much they take from that lesson as they seem more content with eating and drinking the goodies they get for completing their race. But they have fun and that is most important.
If you think this could be a fun activity for you and your family, please consider joining us next year for the FIFTH annual La Bufadora Adventure, where you enjoy the scenery as much as the racing.
Thanks to Delta Esparza and Eduardo Pinedo for the photos.
