Running in Ecuador

Some of the running clubs in Quito and Cumbaya are:

Ruta 42: www.ruta42.org
Zerolimites: Coordinator phone: 099 490 598 Hipatia Puente
Both are located in La Carolina Park, Quito
Ecuador Runners: www.ecuadorrunners.com located in La Esquina Mall, Cumbaya. Trainer Guido Bustillos.

The Challenge or “Reto 21x24” started a year ago with a small group of members and local athletes. It invites runners to a Cross country halfmarathon every month in each of the 24 Ecuadorian provinces for a Cause: to protect the Yasuni National Park from oil explotation and deforestation.

Everyone is welcome to be a part of our running club Ecuadorunners (or the other ones whose members are friends of us and train mostly in Quito) and also to come to the Challenge 21x24 to participate in any of the next editions.

Coming this week: Santa Elena, Salinas 10 Dec!

The Challenge 21x24 arrives to Santa Elena

The next route of this adventure around Ecuador is on Sunday, December 11 in Santa Elena province, from Ancon to Salinas.

Meeting point: Naval Base (Base Naval) Salinas, at 6:00am.
Salinas is located at 1 ½ hours west from Guayaquil, Ecuadorian principal port.
Departure: Ancon, at 6h30

This iniciative invites to run a half marathon (21km) in each province of Ecuador, one a month. The runners have ran from October 2010, 14 routes in rural scenarios of the provinces of Imbabura, Azuay, Pichincha, Manabí, El Oro, Morona Santiago, Cotopaxi, Cañar, Napo, Guayas, Esmeraldas, Los Ríos, Bolivar and Zamora Chinchipe.

Route 10 was fulfilled on July 10 in an ecological reserve called Parque El Lago of Chongon, which is located at 25 minutes from Guayaquil, the main port of Ecuador. The weather was warm and windy, so the athletes could finish the 21k in about 2 hours.

The Cotopaxi cruise was freezing, windy and at an altitude difficult for any human being to run through: 3.880 to 4.300 mnms. Route 14, Zamora Chinchipe was traced into the Podocarpus Forest boundaries; and route 11, Esmeraldas started at Same beach and ended in Hidden Beach. Both adventures were experienced at 85 °F.

Every route has its particular chronicle, each one very different from the other. The trails and the landscape, the participants and their own experiences, the weather and the way to arrive to the departure point, make every monthly race a new story.

For instance, among the runners in Guayas, there were two American athletes from Peace Corps, Amanda and Diana, who got into the Challenge by searching a race in Ecuador. Though one of them live in Guayaquil, she didn’t know about the Parque El Lago Reserve. Another runner traveled all the night from the highlands and after he ran, he jumped into the water to cool himself.

This running program will cover 504km all the way through September 2012. Has invited 294 participans in the 416 already traced and ran kilometers. The Organization summaries its Cause in one phrase: ¡We are against oil operation in Yasuni!

For those who will not run the Challenge 21x24 and want to support the Cause of the protection of Yasuni, can do the following:

• Write your opinión about oil operations in Yasuni to mlhernandez@solidario.fin.ec or publish it in your FB or Twitter.
• Inform about the presence of oil companies in Yasuni.
• Get information and visit this unique reserve.
• And/or buy the Challenge 21x24 t-shirt

Registration spots:
1. At the beginning of every route.
2. PODIUM Sports Store
Luxemburgo N34-340 y Portugal, Edf. Braganza Phone.: 593 2 3331 509
Quito – Ecuador

Fee: $25 (includes t-shirt, 24 routes, water and fruit stations)

Further information:

http://challenge21x24yasuni.blogspot.com/

http://21kx241provincias.blogspot.com
http://twitter.com/lourdeshernande
http://www.banco-solidario.com/
Contact: mlhernandez@solidario.fin.ec
Phone.: 95669133

WE RUN FOR A CAUSE:
TO PROTECT LIFE IN THE YASUNI NATIONAL PARK
ONE OF THE LAST ECOLOGICAL RESERVES IN THE WORLD AND THE MOST BIODIVERSE