The traditional mountain bike event Guanaride moves site for its 16th edition, from the area of Tamarindo in Santa Cruz, Guanacaste to Tambor and Santa Teresa in the Nicoya Peninsula, Puntarenas.

The event will have three stages and is scheduled to take place May 18 – May 20.

Luis Diego Chaverri, organizer of the event explained that they chose to switch the site of the competition to offer participants a different challenge, the Tamarindo route was used for four years and competitors were already used to it. Moving to the Nicoya Peninsula offers more mountain and rural areas that are less populated and have less infrastructure, which makes the competition more interesting, and gives it a higher technical and difficulty level.

This year’s Guanaride expects close to 175 participants. The first stage begins in Tambor at 7 a.m. on Friday, May 18, it will go through Montezuma, Cabuya, Manzanillo, Cobano and back to Tambor to complete 98 km (60.9 miles).

The second stage also starts in Tambor, but then heads towards San Vicente, La Esperanza, El Balso mountain, La Fresca, Rio Seco and back to the starting point for a total 84 km (52.2 miles).

The third and last stage takes competitors from Tambor, to La Guaria, La Esperanza and back to Tambor for a total 52 km (32.3 miles).

“This is a beautiful area, even though the rainy season hasn’t started it is quite green and its great for the practice of MTB, obviously the temperatures are high and if it rains its going to be humid and this will be another challenge in this new route of the Guanaride”, commented Chaverri.

Among the confirmed participants are Colombian Luis Mejia; Josep Betalu from Spain and nationals Federico Ramirez, Jonathan Carballo and Gregory Brenes among others. Categories are divided in General Male and Female (18+), Master A (30-39 years-old), Master B (40-49 years-old), Master C (50+), Guanaventura Male (18+) and Fat Bike.