Bicycle sports lovers will have the chance to see high-level athletes competing in the BMX War Jam 2014, the sixth annual event, which will take place in Nicoya’s multisport complex on Sunday, February 9 beginning at 9 a.m. Luis Elias Benavides, the event’s organizer, said that this year the competition will be very good, as there will be at least 50 participants from Canada, Chile, the United ...

Costa Rica over the past decade has become a magnet for high-endurance extreme sports, adventure racing and triathlons. Elite international athletes travel to the small Central American nation several times a year for sport competitions. One of the most popular zones for extreme endurance events is the north Pacific Guanacaste region. In early March 2014, the International Triathlon Union (ITU)...

If this doesn’t make all of you avid saltwater anglers scurry to get on the next plane to Costa Rica, we don’t know what will! Los Sueños Marina, reputedly the finest marina on the Pacific coast south of the US border (Cabo San Lucas in Mexico and Viña del Mar in Chile might beg to differ, but who cares), is hosting the First Annual Los Sueños Signature Triple Crown tournament. There are three ...

Jorge Luis Pinto. Source: FEDEFUTBOL As World Cup fever sweeps the world, residents and tourists in Guanacaste recently learned about plans to bring a friendly football match to Liberia. Such are the intentions of Eduardo Li, who presides over the Costa Rican Football Federation (Spanish acronym: FEDEFUTBOL). For this match, the National Football Team could play against their counterparts from...

Hector Zuñiga running from Nicoya to GarzaIf you enjoy fitness and are looking to take your routine to the next level, the Voice of Guanacaste (VOG) presents five routes to motivate you to boost your performance. Running from Nicoya to Garza With a pair of good shoes and adequate training you can run for a long time. Hector Zuñiga is an athlete from Garza who participates in at least one ra...

The Triple Crown surf competition returned for the third consecutive year, to choose the coast’s best surfer. The first day was January 11th in the waves of Playa Barrigona. Funds raised will be donated to a housing project to help build a home for a low-income family in the Nosara area. This year, the Nosara Surf Association took charge of the event’s organization along with help from Nosara T...

The 23rd National Sports Games (Juegos Deportivos Nacionales), which were to be held January 5-15, had their dates changed to March 1-16 for the cantons of Guanacaste and the southern Zona Sur. In Nicoya, the games will take place March 2-6, which will allow for changes to the internal structure of the sports complex (Polideportivo), the facility for the water sports competitions. In addition t...

World Cup fever is going strong all over the world. Costa Rica will host its own World Cup in March 2014 – the FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup. Sixteen international teams will gather in Costa Rica to compete for title of world champions in the prestigious tournament from March 15 to April 4; matches will be held in four stadiums in San Jose, Alajuela, Tibas and Liberia. Football is one of C...

Triathletes in Costa Rica are cordially invited to register for the first date of the 2014 TRIA Cup, which this year will take place at some of the most beautiful beaches in the province of Guanacaste. There are two available categories for triathletes to register in: Sport and Olympic. Playa Carrillo will be the site of the first Tria Cup event in late January. The Sport (also known as “Sprint...

XTERRA World Tour arrives in GuanacasteCosta Rica is one of the latest additions to the XTERRA World Tour. The XTERRA off-road triathlon races, which got their start in the Hawaiian island of Maui in the mid-1990s, have seen great expansion around the world in recent years. It was only a matter of time before the XTERRA World Tour landed in Costa Rica, and it will do so in March 2014 at Playa Conc...

Catching a jump into the air while kiteboarding in Costa RicaThe high tourist season in Costa Rica coincides with Guanacaste's warmest and windiest months, which also happen to be the best time for kiteboarding (also known as kitesurfing). This adventuresome activity is quickly gaining interest among tourists and residents of Guanacaste, a province that has the best wind, beach and ocean conditio...

Three dates. Three fabulous beaches. Three communities. The third year of the Triple Crown of Surf Nosara promises triple benefits: entertainment, sport and philanthropy. Last year, all three dates of the triple crown were held at Guiones beach, but this year the tournaments are again scheduled for three very distinct locations, each with distinct challenges for the surfers. The Triple Crown...

Participants in the Coastal Challenge (Rainforest Run) in Costa Rica, posing underneath the event bannerThe southern Pacific coast of Costa Rica will once again host one of the most rigorous foot races in the adventure racing circuit. The Coastal Challenge, also known as the Rainforest Run, puts runners in a very difficult 236 kilometer course that moves from the coast to the jungle and from the ...

Pez Vela Marina in Quepos Costa Rica The Costa Rica Star recently reported on the legacy of superb sportfishing captains in Costa Rica. Anyone who has visited Quepos before 2008 would agree that the town was considered the dirty armpit of Manuel Antonio–we all have them and we all need them, but certainly don’t flaunt them. Go to Quepos to do your shopping and banking, and then get out–espe...

Source: Flickr Commons In Costa Rica, Christmas and the end of the year holidays bring a lot of cheer to residents and visitors. One of the most expected events of the holiday season is called Toros a la Tica, which some people wrongly characterize as bullfights, but in reality they fall somewhere in between the Running of the Bulls in Pamplona and the North American rodeos. Ostensibly, these ...

Source: Twitter The loyal fans of Liga Deportiva Alajuelense (LDA) got an early Christmas present this Sunday, December 22nd as they dethroned the reigning champ Club Sport Herediano (CSH), a First Division football team in Costa Rica that is owned by an expat businessman from the United States. The match, which was scoreless during the first 90 minutes and in overtime, was decided in the end ...

If you are an angler who loves the spectacular, Costa Rica is the place to be. Between now and the end of April, Costa Rica’s Central Pacific coast is home to one of the world’s most anticipated billfish bites. During this period Los Sueños Marina (Jacó/Herradura) and the newer Pez Vela Marina (Quepos/Manuel Antonio) will as always host some of the calendar year’s most prestigious international...

Adventurous athletes will soon have a new option to test their abilities. A climbing wall is currently under construction in Nosara and should be ready by late December. Climb Nosara was designed locally by Steve Way and architect Olivier von der Weid. “Rock climbing is an awesome sport,” Way commented. “It will work great along the surfing and yoga mentality, with its core workout, balance,...

Maykol Torres surfing in Costa RicaThe holiday season in Costa Rica brings many good things for everyone to enjoy. The weather is great across the country and there are parades, carnivals, shopping bonanzas, etc. On the Pacific coast, the surf at this time of the year is spectacular, which is why the 2014 Olympus National Surf Circuit is taking place right now in Playa Bejuco, south of Jaco Beach...

Source: giorodriguez.com Mountain climbing is not usually considered to be a polluting activity, at least not when compared to auto racing. There is, however, a significant carbon footprint left by climbers who train for the ultimate summit on Earth: Mount Everest. Climber Giovanni Rodriguez from Costa Rica aims to make a difference among the mountaineering community by making the first carbon...

Happy clients at Sunset Surf Camp in DominicalWhat happens when a sustainability-oriented surf camp and an NGO whose goal is to “build, support, and activate an alliance of businesses financially committed to creating a healthy planet” join forces? Boom! Sunset Surf Camp and One Percent For The Planet have come together and agreed on promoting some of today’s most vital values: living a healt...

The 2013 Adventure Racing World Championships in Costa Rica finished this week with the Thule Adventure Team from Sweden crossing the finish line in Sarapiqui, province of Heredia. This is the second championship for team Thule, the last time they took the title was in 2011 in Australia. Participating athletes and race observers agreed that this was the toughest race ever. According to the Thul...

With the participation of the Latin American Motocross champion, Ricardo Chacon, and the runner-up Roberto Castro, as well as the national women’s champion Melissa Tencio, who is only 14 years old, the Guanacaste Motocross championship final will be held in Nosara on December 15 at 9 a.m. The race will complement the events of the second Nosara Christmas cultural festival, organized by the Nosara ...

There’s a reason why they call it fishing, and not catching. Richard Krug, owner/founder of Americana Sportfishing, drove down to Golfito in the South Pacific earlier this week with three of his high-school buddies – Kip Ives, Dean Burriston and Billy Thresher. They flew to Costa Rica from La Jolla California to spend a couple of days offshore fishing with Captain Bobby McGuinness on his 37ft C...

The final draw of the 2014 FIFA World Cup to establish the first round of football matches has fans in Costa Rica worried about what teams their beloved La Sele will face. Everyone still remembers the ill-fated draw of the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany, when Costa Rica faced off against the host team right after the inauguration at the Allianz Stadium in Munich. Will the odds be any better this t...

An improvised rally in Jaco Beach that sent two young girls to the hospital after being struck by a sports car racing down a dirt road may have been organized under false pretenses. According to an investigative report by a daily tabloid newspaper in Costa Rica, a corrupt transit police officer may have issued falsified racing permits to naive rally organizers. In Costa Rica, Diario Extra is kn...

Source: FEDEFUTBOL The International Federation of Association Football, better known for its French initials FIFA, announced this past Sunday that tickets for the FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup are now officially on sale. Costa Rica is the host country for this major international sports event, but the shiny-new Garabito Municipal Stadium, home to the Jaco Rays Football Club of the second divisi...

Those who compete in sporting events always try to win in order to gain a prize, but there are competitions in which running to help those in need is more important and satisfying than an economic incentive. That's the spirit of the Kilometers of Love race and recreational walk that will take place on December 8 starting from Banco Costa Rica in Nicoya, which aims to raise funds to remodel the ...

You don’t have to be a sportfishing fanatic to get genuine pleasure from a day or two of fishing. Many of the men and women who contact Americana Sportfishing to enjoy Costa Rica’s world-class saltwater sportfishing are first- and second-time anglers who want to combine a long-awaited vacation in a tropical paradise with a day or two out on the ocean, seeking more excitement and involvement than s...

Four Seasons Resort Costa Rica at Peninsula Papagayo in GuanacasteGuanacaste, Costa Rica. November 25, 2013 – At the International Association of Golf Tourism Operators (IAGTO) Awards ceremony for 2014, Costa Rica was distinguished as Golf Destination of the Year – Latin America & the Caribbean. Daniel Kung, president of ARA Tours, a special tourism operator in Costa Rica that focuses on g...

Source: PlayasdelCoco.netIf you are taking part in this beach race or watching in the audience, consider staying at boutique Hotel Chantel on the hillside overlooking Playas del Coco, for the most relaxing and peaceful lodging experience. One of Costa Rica's most popular 5K and 10K races will take place this Saturday, November 30th at Playas del Coco in Guanacaste. The Third Annual Recreationa...

Source: Witch's Rock Surf Camp Guanacaste, Costa Rica. November 25, 2013 – An instructor from the prestigious Witch's Rock Surf Camp in Playa Tamarindo is the first professional surfer to win a tournament in the brand-new Guanacaste Surfing Circuit. As proudly reported by Witch's Rock Surf Camp, Isaac Vega shone during the final heats of Day 2 under clear skies and less than moderate swells. ...

On Saturday, November 16th, a dose of adventure passed through Nosara’s landscape with the second "Nosara Aventura" race, in which 50 adults and about 20 children participated. The event was organized by the Nosara Civic Association (Asociación Cívica de Nosara). Its purpose is to support a different association every year. Registration had a cost of $30 and the proceeds will be given to the Se...

Source: Wikimedia Commons The most promising region of Costa Rica in the 21st century has not been able to flourish in relation to the country's national pastime and obsession. When it comes to football (or soccer, as some readers will insist) the Guanacaste province has a less-than-stellar past. This, however, is beginning to turn around thanks to various ongoing efforts. Football: More Ef...

Tales of epic struggles with huge Marlin usually grab the sportfishing headlines, but there are other gamefish that provide anglers with just as much excitement. The majestic Tarpon, often referred to as the Silver King, is among the most popular of all catch-and-release sportfishing trophies. Pound for pound, this survivor of prehistoric times – the Tarpon is one of the world’s oldest fish; th...

Imagine this Costa Rica vacation: Traverse the entire country from coast to coast and north to south, but only using mountain bikes, kayaks, rafts, zipline cables, and your feet. Sleep under the stars wherever you may be – mud, sand, grass field, rocky stream bed – but only for a few hours at a time. Brave the thrills of mosquitoes, venomous snakes, crocodiles, rain, boiling sun, and sweltering ra...

Sportfishing grand slams differ from baseball grand slams, although they are just as hard to come by. According to the International Game Fish Association (IGFA), the arbiter of most things fishing, an Offshore grand slam is defined as one boat/captain/anglers releasing any three of the following species during a one-day charter: Blue Marlin, Black Marlin, Striped Marlin, Sailfish, Swordfish or Sp...

Since he was five years old, Sean Forrester has been living on surfboards. “It was a soft board, and it was purple,” he said, recalling his first board. His father, Chris Forrester, former owner of C & C Surf, taught him how to ride the waves. Although Sean was born in the United States, he came to Costa Rica when he was three. He says he feels very Tico and now 14 years old, he says he is "10...

Mud, gravel, asphalt, loose rock, rain, cold, heat and sweat make the route of the conquistadors a real personal challenge that demands physical and mental strength of the participants. Pablo Sanchez, a mountain biker who lives in Samara, knows the challenge and defines it as a “unique and challenging experience.” At 33, Sanchez be traversing the 310-kilometer (192-mile) route for the third ...

New Zealand is about as far from Costa Rica as you can get. That’s where 21 Costa Rican men and women are headed at the beginning of November to compete in the World Rafting Championships. Set for November 13-24 in Rotorua, New Zealand, the biennial World Rafting Championships (WRC) will draw 69 teams from 27 countries to compete in four divisions with men’s and women’s categories – Open, Maste...