The Brazilian AR Circuit Gathers Momentum With Plans for 14 Events in 2021

Camila Nicolau and Pedro Lavinas / 19.01.2021

In its 3rd year, the Brazilian Adventure Racing Circuit for 2021 will consist of 14 races and hopefully some big prize money for the winners, so that they can represent the country at ARWS and ARWC events.

Brazil’s Adventure Race Confederation, CBCA, with a highly committed board, is moving forward with developing the sport in the country. The circuit was an initiative of its President, Arnaldo Maciel, with the aim of integrating such a large country.

It is sponsored by the GPS-tracking device company SPOT, which together with CBCA developed an online system for dot-watching the races, and which also enhances safety for both athletes and Race Directors. CBCA is working hard on the standardization of rules and maps in the country and on assessing the quality of the events by running satisfaction surveys among athletes. Arnaldo was recently reelected for the period 2021-24, which shows that the AR community approves what has been carried out so far.

Brazil has already held 2 World Championships (in 2008 and 2015) and several ARWS races.  For 2021 a preliminary calendar for the SPOT Circuit presents 14 events, to be hold in 12 States all over the country.  Most of them are 12 to 24-hours long, but 2 will be expedition-length races.  Every year, one of the events is elected to hold the finals, depending on the quality, assessed by the athletes, of the races organized by its Race Director.

For the competing teams, the 4 best results through the year count towards the rankings, with the finals weighted double. The defending champions (from 2019, since 2020 was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic) are Team BOA – Brasília Outdoor Adventure/Oficina Multisport, which counts on the experience of the athletes Camila Nicolau and Guilherme Pahl, who have recently won some ARWS races in South America with the Spanish Team Vidaraid.

The SPOT sponsorship has allowed a U$ 2000 prize money for Team BOA to help it compete in an ARWS event.  Some other Brazilian teams have been racing with some regularity in international events, such as Lagartixa (Brazilian Champions in 2018), Rainforest, Quasarlontra, Competition Aroeira, Selva/Terra de Gigantes, AKSA Sports, Malacara Race and Team Harpya, among others.

For the 2021 Circuit, a project was approved by Brazil’s Sports Ministerium, which will allow citizens and companies to get tax discounts for money invested as sponsorship on the National AR Circuit.  

As a result CBCA hopes to be able to help all three podium finishers on the Circuit with prize money to take part in ARWS and ARWC events.  The idea is to have more Brazilian teams racing around the World and to have the Brazilian flag on the top 10 of the World Rankings.

It’s a matter of finding the support from the athletes and companies, and a lot has still to be done but all being well, there is a very promising year ahead for Brazilian Adventure Racing.  Races are scheduled to start in April.

You can read more about the CBCA at http://www.cbcaventura.org.br and follow them at https://www.facebook.com/CBCAventura/ and https://www.instagram.com/cbca_aventura