Samara Sport Festival 2012. Photo by Giordano Ciampini.

Samara has made its mark as an athletic destination and is gearing up to receive hundreds of competitors for the second edition of the Samara Sport Festival on May 18th and June 1st and 2nd, which includes an extreme triathlon with mountain biking, open water swimming and a trail run.   

The events have been split up over two weekends this year to allow area hotels to provide good accommodations to the participants, according to Franklin Chavarria, event organizer from Multi Reto Aventura.

The initiative for the sports festival was planned in conjunction with the chamber of tourism, CASATUR. “In addition to generating a flow of tourists to the zone, the idea is to integrate the participation of the community to these athletic events and seek to benefit local organized groups,” Chavarria explained. “Samara Beach has a lot of potential from the eco-tourism point of view and this has a lot of value for us, especially in Guanacaste, which has been overexploited with poorly planned tourism infrastructure.”

Events will start from Hotel Villas Playa Samara.

For the swimming portion of the XTRI triathlon, athletes will be transported to Isla Chora and will swim back to shore. The route for the trail run is 8.1km along the beach to Cangrejal and returning. The 22.1 km mountain bike portion heads up into the mountains of Santo Domingo, cycling back through Buena Vista, crossing Buena Vista River and then heading through Cantarana and back along the beach from Cangrejal to Villas Playa Samara. Competitors can compete in all events or pick one or two.

The open swim competition on May 18 will include a 1 km and a 2.5 km route, with a limit of up to 120 participants. Normal registration for the triathlon closes on May 10, although extraordinary registration will be permitted from May 13 to 15.

On June 1, athletes will again pour into town for the trail run competition. The main event is a 20km run along the beach to Cangrejal, through Cantarana, crossing Buena Vista River through Los Esterones and then running back along Buena Vista Beach. The trail sport 12km route runs along Samara Beach to Cangrejal, then to Buena Vista Beach and back. The 6km recreational walk is along the beach to Cangrejal and back. For these events, registration closes on May 24, with an extraordinary registration period from May 27 to May 29. In addition, kids between 7 and 12 years of age can participate in a free 1.5 km trail event with registration at Villas Playa Samara the day of the event between 11 a.m. and 12:30 p.m.

For more information about event categories and registration, contact [email protected] or call 2294-8612.

AGENDA
Saturday, May 18
• XTRI Mountain Triathlon and 1 km Open Water Swim, 1 p.m.
• 2.5 km Open Water Swim, 1:30 p.m.
• Award Ceremony, 7 p.m.

Saturday, June 1
• Samara Trail 20k y 10k, 1:30 p.m.
• Recreational Walk 6k, 1:30 p.m.
• Children’s Racel 1.5k, 1 p.m.
• Award Ceremony, 7 p.m.

Sunday, June 2
• Recreational Mountain Biking
 
LINKS FOR WEB:
www.xtricostarica.com
www.openwatercostarica.com
www.trailrunseries.com