Ostrich Racing Edit

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The “Aventura Extrema” park located in Melgar, Colombia offers a bizarre extreme sports plan inspired in the ostrich races held in South Africa and Australia. Harsh races are settled among two enormous birds, brought from Rio de Janeiro and trained in Villa de Leyva (small town in central Colombia where an ostrich farm stands), rided by any amateur “jockey” decided to pay around US$ 8 for a few seconds lasting ride.

These big birds reach 30 km/h with the jockey aboard and can cross the 110 meter long track in less than 15 seconds. They have no breaks at all, so getting off is usually a painful experience. You have only two chances to make it.

But that’s not all. The park, located near one of the biggest military bases in the country (Tolemaida) offers the “Soldier for a day” program in which you receive a tough training session conducted by real army staff. There is also paintball, rappel and rock climbing for the “conventional” extreme sports fan.

Photo 1: Juan Carlos Escobar

Photo 2: Juan Alvaro Cortés