HUAIRASINCHI
International Experience and a Competitive Field For The 17th Huairasinchi
Rob Howard / 05.12.2020
Despite Covid, the Huairasinchi expedition race in Ecuador has attracted a strong entry, and looks set to be a very competitive race in the days ahead.
There are 17 teams in both the Expedition and Adventure categories and racers from Ecuador, France, Brazil, Canada, United States, Colombia, Chile and Denmark will be on the start line at 7am tomorrow at Hacienda El Porvenir.
In the Expedition race, which is part of the Adventure Racing World Series, there could be some close racing between very experienced Huairasinchi teams. Carrying number one is ‘Movistar Terra Aventura’, and given their track record and world ranking of #9 they are probably favourites, but only just.
The ‘Movistar – Terra Aventura’ team finished 3rd when Ecuador hosted the World Championships back in 2014, and have been a fixture at the race since, winning in 2017 and 2018, and coming 3rd last time out. Their squad is big enough to field two teams so there is an equally strong ‘Movistar’ team, and they have been joined by Jari Hiatt (USA), who was in that 3rd placed team at the World Champs.
She said, “Back in the day, one of the first years of Team Crested Butte, we went and raced Huairasinchi, and a year or two later the Ecuador guys asked if I’d go race with them. We’ve been really great friends ever since, and I jumped at the chance to go back. I missed out on Eco-Challenge last year as I was having a baby so I’m pumped to be racing again.” It’s her first expedition race since the Patagonia Expedition Race in 2016, where she was on the winning team, and will be her third time at Huairasinchi.
The most likely challengers to the Movistar teams are ‘Life Adventure –Team Imptek’, who also have a high ARWS ranking (#19), and they were second to world #2, Team Vidaraid, last time out when only two teams finished the full course. That improved on their 4th place in the 2018 race, so will their steady improvement take them to the top spot this time?
Francisco Pinto explained, “We were established at the end of 2016 and are friends of many years with lots of adventures, both national and international together. As a team we’ve had many epic, but tough moments, always enjoying life to the fullest. We love laughing about everything that happens, and giving it our all. It’s taken us almost 3 years to get to the level we are at now and we know we are a very strong and strategic team.”
Another experienced team are ‘Qualificar Beatfitness’, who are ranked #42, having finished 4th at the last Huairasinchi and 7th at the lPatagonia Raid. This team has some international experience too, as Lars Bukkehave of Denmark was in the team for those races and this will be his third time at Huairasinchi. The team are also joined by Canadian racer Alex Provost, who was a team mate of Bukkehave at Eco-Challenge Fiji, and for races in Oregon and Patagonia.
Also travelling to Ecuador to race is Karine Corbeil (Provost’s wife), who was on the same team in Fiji. She will be racing with the Papacara team, who have a decade of Huairasinchi experience, and are aiming for a top 5 place.
One of the Brazilian teams with similar ambitions are ‘Team Rainforest’. This is a new team put together for an Eco-Challenge application (and that’s why they have an anglicized name).
The most experienced racer on this team is Mariana Pontes, who raced in Spain and Gallaecia for many years with Team Fridama, and was on the winning team at Norcha in Portugal.
French racer Guillaume Habouzit, who lives in Brazil now, is on the team and has raced with Fabio Ceravolo at several ARWS races, including ITERA, Guarani and in Belize. He describes their fourth racer, Fredy Guerra, as the team ‘packhorse’ and says. “On paper we are a pretty strong team, but there are a lot of unknowns with the high altitude, cold climate and discovering the race (only Mariana has already competed there, when they hosted the World Champs ). So we’ll see.”
The other Brazilian team are ‘Brou Aventuras Cannondale Shimano’, made up of brothers Jose and Thiago Elias, who are very experienced, but as they are racing as a pair will not rank with the other teams. (The Yuma Adventure team are also listed as a pair.)
For all the teams a first priority will be to record a full course finish, which is not easy at Huairasinchi. There were only two last year and five the year before. Of all the teams that objective will be most in the thoughts of ‘Haku AR’, who will be starting their 8th Huairasinchi and are still looking for that elusive full course finish! You have to give them full credit for enthusiasm and spirit!
You can see the full team list on the race website at: http://www.proyectoaventura.com/site/3/section/3536/teams-2020
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