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Paddling frantically toward the finish line, I could barely hear the cheering crowd over the sound of my gasping breath and the smack of our oars against the water. I had never pushed my body that hard in my entire life, and even though my team-mates rained a combination of encouragement, insults and abuse on each other, it seemed as if we were barely moving our log raft forward as we fought against the current. Then, just 200 meters from the finish line, a submerged fishing net snagged the raft and we came to a sudden stop. Exhausted and surviving on pure adrenalin, my first impulse was to dive into the river and tear the raft free, but thankfully a man on a nearby pier managed to jiggle us loose. Sweat burning our eyes and muscles screaming, our team pushed on, eventually coming 10th out of 44 teams. It is a memory that will stay with me for the rest of my life.

I had flown into Iquitos from Lima with my three teammates to participate in The Great Amazon Raft Race, a three-day event down the Nanay River. The race is the brainchild of Mike Collis, a British expatriate living in Iquitos. For some, retirement means taking it easy and pursuing hobbies, but for Collis, retirement in 1998 meant relocating to the Peruvian Amazon from his hometown of Birmingham, England, and organizing one of Peru's most exciting annual international sporting events.

Shortly after settling in Iquitos, the regional director of tourism brainstormed with Collis over a few cold brews for ideas on how to promote tourism in the area. It didn't take long for the lifelong rafting enthusiast to suggest organizing an Amazon raft race. “If you could do it in England… you could certainly do it on the rivers in the Amazon basin. The waters are wonderful, and the nature is a real plus”. Since then, the idea has surpassed its humble origins, developing from a one-day competition into the three day odyssey that it is today. At first, it was little known outside of the local area, but now, more than ten years later, the race attracts contestants from around the world, pitting against each other, as well as regional talent from the indigenous fishing communities that surround Iquitos.

Organizing an international raft race in the heart of the Amazon rainforest seems like an impossible challenge, but from the outset, Collis' strategy was to absorb problems as they appeared and to make them part of the challenge of the race. The best example of this is the rafts themselves: instead of having teams transport their own rafts to Iquitos (the largest city in the world that can be reached only by river or by air) Collis asks the teams to build their own rafts the day before the race begins. Racers are given eight five-meter long balsa logs and that's it; building the rafts is up to them.

Constructing a well designed, tightly bound raft is a definite advantage for the contestants, so in a sense, the competition really begins the day before the starting pistol sounds. This year it began on a beach on Isla de Pescadores, located on the Marañon River across from the town of Nauta. My teammates and I, alongside more than 160 other competitors, hacked, sawed and nailed our rafts together. Chopping the ends of the logs into points with a machete is harder than you might think. And here, the local participants had the first of several advantages. With thick, calloused hands and an expert swipe, they carved curvy points onto the ends of their logs with the same ease that a child might sharpen a pencil. The good sportsmanship of the local competitors was first evident on this chaotic beach, when they stepped forward to help some of the struggling foreigners build their rafts. This was just one of many generosities I witnessed from the local teams, which is all the more inspiring since they were mostly poor, and very much interested in winning the cash prize of 1,500 soles. Seeing them help their fellow contestants was a humbling experience.

The race took place in three stages, from Isla de Pescadores to the small village of Porvenir, then to the town of Tamshiyaku, and finally on to Iquitos, for a total of 180km. Other than the local teams, there were a few teams from Lima, Australia, Canada, the US, and most notably, from England. The “Sisterhood” and the “Brotherhood” were hard-core rowers who met while studying at some of the most prestigious universities in their country. Rumors abounded that several had come with their own personal body guards who also raced. One of these earned the good-natured nickname “Hercules” because of his strapping size. But in this race, bigger was not necessarily better. The balsa wood logs absorb water, slowly sinking deeper into the river, and the teams with the heaviest rowers had to work much harder since, by the second day, their water-logged rafts were semi-submerged, giving the lighter-weight crews a definite advantage. The team who had the honor of winning last place was a group of imposing policemen from Ottawa, Canada, which merited the wise-crack “good thing they weren't chasing crooks on the river”.

Plans for the 2009 race are already underway, although this year the indomitable Mike Collis has stepped back, taking on a supporting role and leaving the overall organization in the hands of Cristina Alegria, Director of Tourism for the Department of Loreto. Those ACAP members who are in good health should think about participating in the race. Foreigners spend thousands of dollars traveling to Iquitos, but from Lima, we're lucky to be able to reach it so quickly and cheaply. Age isn't a limitation either; my own team of “forty-something's” was beaten by a group whose captain was a 72-year old Canadian!

Learn more about the race by visiting the official web site at http://dawnontheamazon.com/blog/2008/11/26/great-river-amazon-raft-race-blog-2009/#comments and get a taste of the excitement by going to YouTube.com and searching for some of the videos that document the race. Participating in this competition is a chance of a lifetime, and it's in our own backyard!