Format of The Race
The race normally begins at 6:00 AM (previously 5:00 AM) on Holy Saturday morning, near Mile 2 on Belize's Western Highway, a favorite road for cycling events. Cyclists race to the western town of San Ignacio, in the Cayo District, turn there and return to Belize City, finishing at the Marion Jones Sports Complex (formerly the National Stadium) with two laps on the asphalt track. The estimated distance of the Classic is some 140 miles (some say it is closer to 145). Participation is limited mainly to amateur cyclists of any country, and cyclists from Mexico, Guatemala, Jamaica, the United Kingdom and the United States have participated. In addition to prizes awarded at the end of the race, station prizes are handed out at strategic points on the road going and coming. These prizes are usually cash donations, farm produce or certificates for trophies, jewelry and other items. Belizeans normally line the roadway to cheer on Belize's representatives in the race. While the cyclists are pushed toward Cayo by southeasterly or even easterly winds, a combination of those same fierce winds and the usual muggy conditions of Belize in the dry season traditionally faces cyclists on the return journey.
Read more about this topic: Cross Country Cycling Classic
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“The Laws of Nature are just, but terrible. There is no weak mercy in them. Cause and consequence are inseparable and inevitable. The elements have no forbearance. The fire burns, the water drowns, the air consumes, the earth buries. And perhaps it would be well for our race if the punishment of crimes against the Laws of Man were as inevitable as the punishment of crimes against the Laws of Nature—were Man as unerring in his judgments as Nature.”
—Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–1882)