Freshwater Cup Marathon 2008

Junior league line up for opening ceremony

The 4th Annual TIDE Freshwater Cup began with a grand marathon on Saturday, March 9th at the Union Field in Punta Gorda Town, Toledo.  The Freshwater Cup is an innovative mechanism to raise awareness of environmental issues around fresh water, arguably our most valuable resource. In order to participate, teams must develop and then implement a project to protect freshwater in their village. 

For the second year in a row, we have added a Junior League for youth ages 10 to 12 years old.  Six teams make up this year’s Junior

During the opening ceremony at the senior league marathon the TIDE Executive Director gave the welcome address

League and they represent different cross sections of Villages in the Maya Mountain Marine Corridor  (MMMC), from Columbia to San Marcos. Some of the villages lie along the Rio Grande River where TIDE owns and manages ~30,000 acres of Private Land, and continue on to Punta Gorda Town which buffers the Port Honduras Marine Reserve.

The adult teams also had their marathon to kick off the competition.  All of the teams come from communities that buffer the TIDE Private Lands, and the players are mostly self-employed, farmers and hunters of game like iguana and gibnut.

The MMMC where TIDE works is a million acre corridor that contains six major rivers that flow into the Port Honduras Marine Reserve, namely Monkey River

The junior league marathon winners live in the Columbia watershed where the Rio Grande flows

, Deep River, Payne’s Creek, Middle River, Golden Stream and Rio Grande.  This magnificent corridor is a unique place where visitors can see the endangered West Indian manatee, Hicatee turtle, yellow-headed parrot, and many others.  The area contains unfragmented, moist tropical forest that serves as a biological corridor for important species such as jaguar, puma, margay, ocelot and jaguarundi, which require large units of forest for their mobility and survival.

The Freshwater Cup started four years ago to engage communities located in the watersheds of the MMMC in environment friendly activities and projects as stewards of their environment.

Some of the ongoing projects from previous Cups include hicatee awareness and

St. Peter Claver School Students

conservation, river cleanup campaigns, riparian zone restoration, coastal cleanups and town beautifications.  The junior leaguers also conduct environmental projects near their homes and in their school communities.

You can show your support for the Freshwater Cup by coming to the football games every weekend in Punta Gorda from now through the end of May, 2008.  Contact Norman Budna, Education & Outreach Officer, for more information or to volunteer.