- COMPETITION RULES-

1. Every competitor must know the competition rules. No claims or appeals will be accepted due to ignorance of this rules. This regulation is from the DHL GUANARIDE. In case that unexpected situations that are not explicit in this regulation arise, the organization and the Costa Rican Cycling Federation (FECOCI), through the commissioner and judges appointed, may give them a solution based on this actual regulation and the International Cyclist Union (UCI) regulation.

2. Participants:
Every competitor must be 18 years or older and be in optimum health condition and have excellent physical capacity.

3. Competition Schedule:
The DHL GUANARIDE will be carried on in 5 stages during July 25th, 26th, 27th, 28th, and 29th of 2007.

4. Official Categories:
• Open Male Category: 18 years and older
• Open Female Category: 18 years and older
• Master A Category: 30 to 39 years old
• Master B Category: 40 to 49 years old
• Master C Category: 50 years and older

5. Awards:
Every category will be awarded from 1st to 3rd  place:

Prize award will take place on Saturday August 18th at 4:00 pm on Biker Store, Moravia. In case a foreign cyclist is a candidate to the awards, he/she must leave the organization the necessary information for the award’s delivery.

6. Traffic Regulations:
DHL GUANARIDE will take place on public roads for which it is every competitor’s responsability to respect the traffic signs of the Costa Rican Republic. During the competition, there will not be partial or complete traffic regulation.

7. Sanctions:
For the fulfillment of the established norms in the regulation, there are 2 types of sanctions:

Time Sanction: This will be carried on by adding time to the total time of the competitor that committed the fault. The added time quantity may vary between 1 and 60 minutes, depending on the criteria of the directors and commissioners of the competition. There will be NO claims or appeals about the time sanction they decided.

Disqualifying Sanction: This sanction will automatically disqualify the competitor.

8. Inscription Fee:
No inscription fee will be returned to the disqualified competitor or due to the event’s cancellation.

9. Event Cancellation:
In case of unfavorable climatic factors or any other extreme circunstance, the competition may be cancelled. If this happens, the award event will be done by considering the results obtained the day before the competition’s cancellation.

10. Costa Rican Cycling Federation (FECOCI):
DHL GUANARIDE counts with the approval of FECOCI. This is the official authority in charge of the competition’s judging. Every appeal or claim must be adressed to this entity. The FECOCI and the competition directors will bring a solution.

Every competitor must carry and present the FECOCI license up to date. There will NOT be allowed competitors without the license up to date. This will be solicitated before stage 1 starts the first day of competition by the FECOCI commissioner.

11. Registration:
Every competitor must register each day of competition before the start. If the competitor does not sign, he/she will have a time sanction.
The time schedule for the registration signature will be carried away each day of competition before the exit; the FECOCI commissioner is in charge.

12. Luggage:
The organization will ONLY transport the official rider bag. It must be properly identified with the name and phone number. No luggage transportation will be done without the requested information. Only the official ride bag the organization assignes to each competitor will be transported.

13. Bicycles in Hotels:
No dirty bicycles are allowed inside the hotels rooms. In every finish line will be available a  bicycle washing area for free and mandatory washing. If a hotel reports a specific room with dirty towels or bed sheets used in the cleaning of bicycles, the competitors lodged in that hotel room will suffer a time sanction.

14. Competitors Continuity:
A competitor that, for any reason, has to quit from the competition or has been disqualified, can keep on participating in the next stages of the competiton as a ‘disqualified rider’. It´s competitor´s number will be removed, and a blue one will be attached in its place. The blue number will have the same numerical figure than the one removed, but it will be blue colored.

15. Sport Ethics:
Abusive language and unsport actions may be sanctioned with disqualification or time penalty (addition) depending on the judges criteria.

16. Basic Equipment:
Every competitor must wear this basic equipment: adequate mountain bike clothing  (cycling short and jersey), helmet, cycling gloves and a race number completely visible and attached to the handlebar of the bike. If a competitor doesn’t wear this basic equipment, the race organization will prohibit the rider to continue participating in the competition until the violation is corrected. If a competitor participates without helmet or race number attached to its bike handlebar, he will be disqualified.

17. Bycicling mechanical problems during the competition:
If a competitor suffers mechanical problems during the race, he/she can receive assistance from any external person or from another competitor.  The affected competitor can change his bicycle, the rims or any part that has to be changed in order to allow the optimum operation of the bicycle.

18. Particular assistance vehicles:
No assistance vehicles will be allowed in the race. If a competitor receives assistance from a vehicle, he will be disqualified. Assistance Stands are designed for competitors to satisfy their physical needs.

19. Nutrition and hydration:
Any competitor can please his food and hydration needs over the Assistance Stands. Each stand will be supplied with water, hydration drinks, baked potatoes, cookies, fruits and bicycle chain grease. Any other kind of assistance is completely prohibited. If during the race a competitor is assisted by vehicles, motorcycles, four-wheelers or any other way, he will be disqualified.

20. External help:
No competitor will be towed by vehicles, motorcycles or four-wheelers. If this happens the towed competitor will be disquilified.

21. Race number:
Every competidor will have a race number attached to the handlebar of the bicycle. It must be completely visible during the five days of competition. No cut or modified numbers will be allowed. The competitors are not allowed to participate without the race number. If a competitor participates without the race number or with a modified one, he will be disqualified.

Every disqualified or retired competitor who decides to continue participating in the next stages of the race will use a blue number with the original numerical figure he used when he started the race.

22. Competition’s route and signs:
If a competitor manipulates or alters a competition sign, he will be disqualified.

23. Type of competition and competitors orientation:
This competition has a high level of adventure and so should be the competitor’s level of orientation. Each competitor is responsible for his orientation in the competition and must follow and respect the official race signs. Arrows will indicate the competitors which way to follow. Since this competition represents a long distance to travel through, unknown people can manipulate or alter the competition signs. This external situation surpasses the race organization’s control, so no appeals will be accepted due to the competitor’s disorientation along the race.

24. Right to pass:
Every cyclist must yield the space to the fastest competitor when being requested in the correct way, by indicating which side (right or left) is he passing through. This rule will only be used when the road conditions allow the competitor to yield the space, not being obligation of a slow rider to stop on a narrow or dangerourly descendant road, or getting off the road for being surpassed by the other. The competitor that pushes or carries the bicycle must take a side for the competitor that rides the bicycle. In case a judge observes that this rule is not being followed and the road conditions allow the fulfillment of the same, the competitor violating the rule will be sanctioned with time. The time will be established according to the organization’s criteria.

25. Position Rivalization:
When two competitors are rivalizing for a position, the competitor that leads not necessarily must yield his position to the defiant competitor. Nevertheless, a competitor cannot interfeer with his body with the intention to unable the progress of the other, considering this as a lack of sport ethics and will be sanctioned with time.
If this situation takes place at the finish line, the final decision will depend on the criteria of the judge. The decision would be according to what had been seen when the bicycle wheels crossed the finish line.

26. Appeals:
They will be written and delivered to the FECOCI commissioner on the 30 minutes after the publication of the results. The results will be published an hour after the arrival of the last competitor and the hour in which they were published will be written on the results that will be posted in each Hotel. This way, the appellant will have the chance to know at what time the appellation time ends. The appeals will be analized by the FECOCI commisioner and the competition´s director. All appeals must have information that supports it and the following facts: incident description, witnesses, names, addresses and phone numbers. Every appeal must pay $50.00 (fifty dollars with 00/100) in cash. The FECOCI commissioner and directors will answer the appeal. In case the request is denied, the organization will keep the $50.00 (dollars with 00/100) and if it´s valid the money will be returned to the appealer.

27. Competitor´s Trash:
All competitors that are seen throwing trash on the ground will be disqualified. It’s every competitor responsibility to keep his trash with him until the end of the stage.

28. River:
At Stage 3, the competitor must cross, among others, the Buena Vista River. In case the river gets higher and the competitors will not be able to cross, they will have to wait for the “carro escoba”. In the stage’s final result, this competitors will get the last competitor’s time plus 20 minutes.

29. Controlled Exits:
All competitors must respect the controlled exits by staying behind the judge that controls the speed. If a competitor violates this rule, he will be sanctioned with disqualification.

30. Time Limit in Stage Conclusion:
If a competitor does not arrive on the time limit, he will be disqualified. He may keep competing on the following stages, but as a disqualified competitor. By the time the “carro escoba” has noticed that the time limit has been surpassed, the cyclist that has not crossed the finish line must get in the car. If the competitor does not want to get in the car, he/she must have to sign a release form in which he/she exonerates the organization from all kind of responsability. The cyclist will carry on by himself, since the “carro escoba” and assistance stands are picking up and going straight to the finish line.

31. Leaders and Stage Winners Shirts award:
Each day will be carried out an event to establish the category leaders of the race, for which they will receive an official leader jersey. In the same event there will take place the awards for the Male and Female Stage. If the awarded competitors don’t show up to the event, they will be sanctioned by losing their qualification right.  For the event competitors must wear their sponsored jersey. The leaders of the category must wear their official category leader jersey over the sponsored one.

32. Category leaders:
Every competitor must wear the category leader jersey assigned by the race organization. If a competitor doesn’t wear it, he or she will be disqualified and cannot receive his award.

33. Unexpected situations:
In case of unexpected situations not explicitly established or solved in this rules, the race organization and the Costarican Cycling Federation ( Federación Costarricense de Ciclismo, FECOCI), with the help of the race commisary and the judges, will solve the situation based on this rules and the rules of the International Cycling Union (Unión Ciclista Internacional, UCI).