La Ruta Maya Shifts Course, but the Cruz Legacy Keeps Moving

For nearly three decades, the Cruz family of Esperanza Village has lived and breathed the La Ruta Maya Belize River Challenge. The Belize River doesn’t just serve as a racecourse for them; it acts as a lifeline, a childhood playground, and the keeper of their family history. From parents to children, generation after generation paddles its winding bends, carving out a legacy that makes the Cruz name synonymous with the sport. This year, as the iconic race undergoes one of its biggest changes yet, the Cruz family once again steps up to take on the currents, this time with The Nature Conservancy and the San Ignacio Hotel at their sides. News Five’s Paul Lopez reports.

 

Paul Lopez, Reporting

In Esperanza Village, the Belize River shapes the Cruz family’s identity, anchors their sense of home, and carries decades of their most treasured memories. Its banks carry stories they hold close to their hearts. The Cruz family’s participation in the La Ruta Maya Belize River Challenge at the race’s inception twenty-nine-years ago, came naturally.

 

Daniel Cruz Sr., Ranza River Cruzers

“I mih paddle when I was fifteen, I have like twenty-four years the paddle, this year I decided to do it with my sister and my son, one of the Guava Limb teammates. He decide to do it with me and my sister mix.”

 

The Cruz family alone has about a dozen paddlers consistently competing in the La Ruta Belize River Challenge. And they don’t just participate; they win in numerous categories annually. This year, after dominating the 2025 race with a first‑place finish, Daniel Cruz Jr. is joining his father and aunt to paddle in the mixed category.

 

Daniel Cruz Jr., Ranza River Cruzers

“Where you gonna put time is on the first day and the last day. The channel is very hard. If you enter there first, you can open gap or you they can catch you in their. So we managed to get in their first and we never gave up, opened a gap.”

 

Daniel Cruz Jr. and his team scored a sweet win in the pro category last year, and now he’s back in the mixed division with his dad and aunt, backed by The Nature Conservancy and the San Ignacio Hotel. Private sponsorship keeps paddlers in the race, covering their training, nutrition and everything they need to compete.

 

Lumen Cayetano Enriquez, Lands Manager, The Nature Conservancy Belize

“First of all what it does is that it builds awareness and affords us a platform to build awareness around the work we are doing, as it relates to freshwater protection and conservation. We see it as added benefit that we are privileged enough to be able to share the resources we have to support a team to enter this race. It also signifies the importance we place on fresh water protection.”

 

Natasha Blanco, Marketing Assistant, San Ignacio Hotel

“We feel like Ruta Maya was very traditional, a Cayo thing and it eventually became something that it is today, something very big, something for all Belizeans to look forward to.”

 

But this year the race is taking on a new shape. The finish line will no longer be at the BelCan Bridge where the Cruz family has traditionally ended the grueling four-day battle on the river. This time, the race ends at the Grand Resort, and the Cruz family’s top concern is staying safe.

 

Francisca Cruz Pfaender, Ranza River Cruisers

“Usually you don’t know how the water and the weather is going to look. Sometimes even before reaching the kennel the weather is pretty big where it will lift the boat of the canoe and slam it. Some years it is like that where you have to balance so you don’t capsize.”

 

The new finish line changes the traditional course of the race, completely removing the Haulover Creek. It might seem like a minor change to some, but it’s a huge deal for the paddlers.

 

Daniel Cruz Sr.

“It says a big difference because that channel to the finish is forty-five minutes and from there it decides who gets in there first or if any team is already a bit tired the next team has an advantage to open a gap with the next team, especially if the next team is not light, is heavy, they have a big advantage to the finish.”

 

Many paddlers say organizers didn’t properly consult them before making such a big change, and the Cruz family feels the same way.

 

Francisca Cruz Pfaender

“It was important for the paddlers and that is why a lot of the paddlers feel disappointed on it, that the organizers didn’t think what the paddlers were going to think about it, how they are going to feel and the sponsors too because without the sponsors the paddlers can’t to anything.”

 

As they prepare to push through the four‑day test of endurance, skill, and strategy, the new finish line brings both challenge and controversy. But their dedication to canoeing, the river, and their legacy won’t waver. Reporting for News Five, I am Paul Lopez

 

Attention readers: This online newscast is a direct transcript of our evening television broadcast. When speakers use Kriol, we have carefully rendered their words using a standard spelling system.

 

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