The foundation
Curacao Cycling Events is a foundation that was established in 2019, with the aim of preserving and promoting cycling and MTB competitions on Curacao. The board of the foundation consists of Ewold de Maar (chairman), Ed de Knegt (secretary/treasurer) and Marco Dijkerman. The foundation organized the Kärcher Coral Estate Classic and Kärcher Duo Xtreme in 2019 and 2021 and hopes to further expand the activities to promote cycling on Curacao, both among adults and among the youth.
The Coral Estate Classic and the Curaçao Duo Xtreme are 2 mountain bike competitions that have been organized for many years in the month of November on Curaçao. Both matches take place on Banda’bou, the western part of the island. The first Coral Estate Classic took place in 2006, with start and finish on top of the mountain at Coral Estate’s porter’s lodge. In recent years, the start-finish has been located around the beautiful Coral Estate Center with the restaurants Karakter and Koraal.
The Curaçao Duo Xtreme was once initiated by cycling association Pedal Pushers under the inspiring leadership of Clotilde Vicente from VistaBike. This toughest mountain bike race on Curaçao has now grown into one of the biggest sporting events on the island. Unique about this race is that you participate as a couple; the finishing time is determined by the last of the couple to cross the finish line.
The races
In 2016, the Curaçao Duo Xtreme was in danger of not taking place. With the help of a number of local sponsors and the assistance of Ewold and Marc de Maar, the race, with start and finish at the Blue Bay Resort, went ahead at the last minute. In 2017 and 2018, the Coral Estate Classic and the Curaçao Duo Xtreme were part of the Curaçao Cycling Week. An initiative of father and son De Maar and marketing agency 1609bold from Zuidlaren. Thanks in part to this agency, a number of quality improvements were made, such as the use of social media, exposure in Europe, online registration and electronic timekeeping. From an organizational point of view, there has been a lot of collaboration with local associations and from this collaboration the Curaçao Cycling Events Foundation was created. This foundation was established for the organization of cycling events on Curaçao, both for road bikes and MTB. In November 2019, the Kärcher Coral Estate Classic and the Kärcher Duo Xtreme were again organized as two separate competitions. In 2020, both competitions were canceled due to the COVID-19 crisis, but both events could take place again in 2021 and 2022. And now, in 2023, we will again organize the Kärcher Coral Estate Classic and the Kärcher Duo Xtreme!
