The Cóbano District of Puntarenas was able to join, along with 14 other territories, the Latin American Sports Tourism Network, an initiative created in 2022 by the Chilean engineer, Andrés Sarmiento, in order to promote visits to strategic places in the region through the practice of various disciplines at the recreational and competitive level.
Currently, the Network is made up of 14 Municipalities in San Luis Potosí (Mexico), Puchuncaví (Chile), Ibarra (Ecuador), Puerto Madryn, Esquel, Villa de Merlo, Dolores (all four in Argentina), Medellín, Puerto Salgar, Cota, Juan de Acosta, Mosquera (all five in Colombia), La Paloma (Uruguay) and now Cóbano in Costa Rica.
2025 National Surf Circuit
On March 14, 15 and 16, Playa Carmen de Santa Teresa de Cóbano will be the place where the second date of the Banco LAFISE 2025 National Surf Circuit presented by Garabito Ciudad Deportiva will be held, where the winners of the 29 categories will be awarded 1,500 points in the general ranking.
According to Ronny Montero, Mayor of Cóbano, holding a date of this event in that community of the Nicoya Peninsula “will be a golden opportunity to promote our natural beauties through healthy lifestyles in line with the goals we have set as a local government.”
“The Network aims to contribute to the development of sports tourism in an associative way through actions that allow to strengthen the sports and tourism ecosystem of the Latin American region. These actions are in line with the Sustainable Development Goals and seek to become an example to follow at the global level by incorporating key issues such as local development, sustainability, inclusion, innovation, sports heritage and peace,” Montero said.
Playa Carmen, a paradise for surfing
Along with the tournament in Playa Carmen in Santa Teresa de Cóbano, the Banco LAFISE 2025 National Surf Circuit calendar presented by Garabito Ciudad Deportiva includes competitions in Playa Dominical de Osa (April 11-13), Playa Guiones in Nicoya (April 23-25) and Playa Hermosa in Garabito (June 20-22).
Great contributions
Mike Castro, General Coordinator of the Banco LAFISE 2025 National Surf Circuit presented by Garabito Ciudad Deportiva, said that for “several years Cóbano has been gaining ground in the preferences of practitioners of this sport as a place that has very good waves and a growing infrastructure so that visitors can feel comfortable.”
“That was one of the reasons we took into account to give a date to this District of the canton of Puntarenas. We are sure that bringing a quality event like ours to that place will contribute a lot to the process of positioning that area among lovers of this discipline, generating many benefits for local entrepreneurs,” said Castro.
For the General Coordinator of the Banco LAFISE 2025 National Surf Circuit presented by Garabito Ciudad Deportiva, Cóbano is a cradle of national champions; Therefore, the date in that place will serve to popularize and stimulate all the talent that “exists there thanks to new generations that are dominating the table as references in national teams; for example, the current Central American Open Champion (Andreas Schneider) and the leader of the Circuit in the Under-18 category (Dencell Reyes Cubero)”.
The inaugural meeting – in person – of the Latin American Sports Tourism Network was held in May 2023, in the commune of Puchuncaví (Chile), while the First Latin American Sports Tourism Congress was organized in October 2023, based in San Luis de Potosí (Mexico).
