ARWC Final Ceremony

Final Ceremony ARWC, since the 18th November, the Adventure Racing World Championship is officially over. The final ceremony of this event took place in the “Yaku Water Museum” in Quito, which is situated on a hill close to the historical center. There you have a breathtaking view over the beautiful city of Quito. The speeches in Spanish and English were kept very short and they led quickly to the award ceremony. First of all, a movie of the event was shown and laughter and applause filled the room completely, until the three best Ecuadorian teams were honored and came together on the stage. Team Movistar even got the third place and the entire country is proud of their athletes.

Afterwards the six best teams were called to the stage. In sixth place was UK-adidas Terrex, then FR-Green Caffte Costa Rica-UPS Adventure-Haute Maurienne/Vanoise, followed by USA Tecnu, the third place was like already mentioned Team Movistar from Ecuador, Spain – Columbia Vidaraid ranked the second place and of course the winner of this race was Team Seagate from New Zealand. At the end of the ceremony, firework was shown in front of the building, which completed the ceremony in a very nice way and after it the buffett was openend. While most of the people queued up for the food, a traditional band starting playing, which showed the cultural side of Ecuador. Although the teams were a bit tired of the race, some even started dancing and had a lot of fun during the afterparty. The evening was something special, especially for the winners and the host Proyecto Aventura.

I got the chance to talk to Becky Law, a member of the Ecuadorian Team Finalin, and she told me that the route of the race was amazing and the landscape just beautiful. The worst part of the race was probably the last trek about 40km, what confirmed me also Natalie from Team Canada. Becky really liked going to the countryside, meeting the local people and experiencing Ecuador in a way no tourist will ever do.

Natalie told me: “The race was extremely tough and challenging but stunning in the same time.”This describes the race in a perfect way.

In my opinion it was a successful evening, where all the winners were honored and an even more successful race. Thanks to all the teams, who participated, to Proyecto Aventura and of course to all the helpers of this event. We are glad, we could also be a part of this race and help some of the teams with our acclimazation programs.