Thomas Frischknecht, last year’s champion, remains the one to beat in the 14th edition of the  “Conqueror’s Route” mountain bike race.  The race goes from Jacó Beach on the Pacific Coast to Limón on the Atlantic Coast.  Following the routes used by the Spanish in Colonial times to transverse Costa Rica. This year there are 510 participants: 185 Costa Ricans and 325 foreigners.  The Swiss win last year got the attention of the mountain biking world, and this year more foreign athletes than ever before are competing.  They are also the ones to beat, as “Frischi” signals Leonardo Páez, of Colombia, Italian Marzio Deho and Gringo Jeremiah Bishop as his main rivals.

Day One (Friday): The caravan will leave Jacó and arrive at Ciudad Colón, a route of 97.5 kilometers. The micro climates will be Tropical Rainforest, Sub-tropical Rainforest, and Tropical Dry Forest. Time limit: 12 hours.

Day Two (Saturday): 6.7 kilometers from Terramall (Tres Ríos) to Aquiares. The environment is Cloudforest and Rainforest with drastic temperature and vegetation changes. Time Limit: 11 hours.

Tercer día (domingo): from Aquiares to Playa Bonita. Riders will pass through Tropical Rainforest, Sub-tropical Rainforest, and Tropical Wetlands. Time Limit: 12 hours.

Enjoy the ride!

El puerto, Futbol Club Puntarenas, has advanced to the Central American final against a club from Honduras, either Olimpia or Victoria.  In a tourney where the traditional Costa Rican powers were eliminated (Alajuela by Puntarenas and Saprissa by Victoria), Puntarenas has saved face and is now qualified for the North, Central American and Caribbean region tournament and hopes there to qualify for the FIFA Club World Cup by winning the title.

Puntarenas forged a solid victory here at home last week, winning 2-0.   Their Guatemalan opponent, Marquense, was not able to take advantage of the high altitude in their stadium to turn the tables.  The 0-0 tie on Tuesday was plenty for the “oranges” to advance to the next round.

Although the game went smoothly, the path to victory was definitely a trail they had to blaze.  Starting with the trip to Guatemala followed by a 284 kilometer bus ride to San Marcos on Monday.   The trip included a 2420 meter altitude change, which is why it was made so soon before game time, which is a way to avoid suffering the acclimitization process often utilized in Latin America.

After reviewing 5 finalists, the Costa Rican Football Federation named this week Hernan Medford as the new head coach of the national team for the eliminatories of the South Africa World Cup 2010.

Medford was hired as Saprissa’s head coach in 2003 by new owner Jorge Vergara. At that time Medford had recently retired as a player and had no coaching experience. Medford took to the coaching position like a pelican to diving and won two National Championships (2003-2004 y 2005-2006), one Central American Cup (2004) and one CONCACAF championship (2005).  Under his direction, Saprissa also placed 3rd in the FIFA Club World Cup last December (with 23 victories and a loss to English powerhouse Liverpool).

Medford took the position on the condition that he would be able to work his way. In the press conference naming him as coach, he vowed to work hard to win the World Cup in 2010.  “I want to be world champion with the Tricolor and in order to achieve that we must change: executives, players, coaches and the sports press.”

Medford went on to say, ” I am not a slouch, I set high goals and I want to fight in order reach the podium in a World Cup. I don’t know if I will make it, but if I set low goals for myself, then it would be enough just to go to South Africa. But this country deserves better. ”

One of the first new wrinkles for outspoken coach was the initiative to work once a week with the national team.  “I will concentrate on tactical preparation, since the rest the players do in their clubs. “  This work will begin in January and the Tricolor will not play any games prior to that time. And the new coach left no doubt as to who is the boss: “I will be the one who decides who gets the call, how the team will play and what games the team will play.”

Novedad

Medford anunció que a partir del próximo año trabajará una vez a la semana con los jugadores de la Selección Nacional

Local analysts and commentators are pleased with the decision.