Sports Guru, James Adderley at the La Ruta Maya Finish Line

Good evening I'm James Adderly and this is Sport's Monday.

The 14th edition of La Ruta Maya brought with it the finest competition this 170 mile river challenge has ever seen and indeed fans loved every moment of it.

Here is the start on Friday morning below the Hawksworth Bridge in San Ignacio where 81 canoes with a mandatory crew of 3 each in 8 different categories set out in search of fame on fortune. The Macal River explodes as this human effort begins in earnest bringing with it the excitement of the hint for supremacy.

49 miles later we join host of fans gathered at Banana Bank to witness the completion of the 1st stage and it comes as no surprise that the duel between the defending champion Zip Rider and Belize Bank is dominating the pace. Zip Rider looks to grab stage win but is also looking for a bigger time margin of win and while they take the stage, they show only a 5 second lead over Belize Bank after day 1.

Day II brings the longest stage in La Ruta Maya as the paddlers face a 60 mile journey to Double Head. It used to be 66 miles when the stage finish was at Bermudian Landing but 6 miles was shaved off this year for the Double Head finish in an effort to alleviate the punishment to the athletes.

Today like the worthy contender they are the Belize Bank strikes back to take the stage win with a 3 second win over Zip Rider while NICH made its presence felt with a 3rd place effort that was clocked only 23 seconds behind the Bank.

This brings Day 3 inside Double Head and we find the village preparing breakfast for the competition.

While outside the athletes begin to rouse themselves from inside their temporary sleeping quarters.

With the British in charge of the statistical arena, Belize team had no place in the event which means the 8a.m start to stage III is adhered to.

Today at least 3 vessels will fall victim to the fury of the start as they turn over but all would continue in this 36 mile stage.

At Flowers Bank the head to head battle between Zip Rider and the Belize Bank continued unabated even as they try to re-stock much needed supplies.

In the meantime NICH, Cobb's Arms and Agro Tech Hardware have decided to set chase on the lead canoes.

So now we're inside the scenic village of Burrell Boom and lo and behold we have a 3 boat sprint for the stage win. Even more interesting it's NICH in the driver's seat going to the tape. The Belize Bank makes a mad dash ar the chase from behind while Zip Rider attacks on the outside. However, today NICH would make a stand and write itself into the history books by grabbing its 1st stage win in La Ruta Maya event with a time of 4 hours, 41 minutes and 41 seconds. Zip Rider edges the Bank by 1 second to grab 2ned place in a time of 4 hours 41 minutes and 45 seconds while Belize Bank settles for 3rd. And folks, this 1 second will loom large but let's not get ahead of ourselves.

Cobb's Arms takes 4th place and they've certainly worked their way up to elite status in this event.

So we're at the start of the final stage a distance of 25 miles from Burrell Boom to the Belcan Bridge in Belize City and no we're down to some 70 boats still in the water.

James Adderley

At Grace Bank the Belize Bank seems intent on pulling away from Zip rider who seems to be hanging on but when then they find the energy to catch up. Still there are 4 boats setting chase including CPBL, Agro Tech and NICH, while the 4 mixed crew of KOOP Sheet Metal find themselves among the big boys.

At mile 8, a dolphin cuts across the race still being led by the Belize Bank which says how blessed Belize really is.

At Haulover the Belize Bank crosses the creek 1st with Zip rider on its stern, Agro Tech is 3rd while NICH and CPBL bring up the rear of the top 5.

We're now at the finish line at Belcan Bridge and watch this duel between the lead duo - the Bank seems to cut across the path of Zip Rider and for a moment there's a lull - they both recover and head to the tape but the Bank hold's o not take the win despite the desperate push by Zip Rider.

The British time keepers are there to clock the finish.

NICH recovers to take 3rd place, Agro Tech pulls up 4th and finishing the final stage 5th overall is the mixed team of Koop Sheet Metal.

While Cobb's Arms rounds out the top 6

Jerry Rhaburn

Jerry Rhaburn, Team Captain, Zip Riders

"Today we had a very interesting race. We wanted to give the fans a nice sprint and as you guys can see we had a little conflict on the finish there, but I think you know racing is all about keeping your cool and I think the spectators saw what went on and I think we did good. This race came down to-yesterday we started off in Double Head Cabbage with two seconds, we gained back one second and that one second is what it takes. And today we won by one second and that's the same one second we took back from Belize Bank in Burrell Boom. But you know this racing it went to a different level. It went to professional level and it's all about experience and teammates because I have a very good team and Belize Bank is a very good team and I am going to take off my hats for these guys, these guys are very good paddlers."

Folks, we could not get the official stats at press time but we do know that Zip Rider emerged the overall winner with a total time of 18 hours 4 seconds while Belize Bank totaled 18 hours 5 seconds. The difference is 1 second - that same second Zip Rider gained in the Burrell Boom sprint.

Here what else we know this the finals title was taken by the Peacemakers consisting of Jane Usher, Christine Jacobs and Delia Hyde.

Jim Scott, Johnny Watt Searle and Mike Searle combined their efforts to win the Masters class.

Folks, we are hoping to get the full information and statistics from all 8 categories before our full length feature which is scheduled to be aired on Friday.

Jah Overall, I'm James Adderley.

Channel 5