The AR World Championships - Costa Rica
South and Central American Teams at ARWC Costa Rica
Alex Carrijo / 28.11.2013
As at the last two ARWC races in Tasmania and France, Costa Rica 2013 has attracted a great number of teams from 25 different nations. Among them there are 22 teams from seven countries of the Americas. The host country has 9 teams enrolled while Argentina and Brazil have 4, Ecuador has 2 and Colombia, Guatemala and Paraguay have one each.
As this year, next year we'll see the final at another American country so it will pay to have a close look at teams from this continent. That's what I'll be focusing on my reports at the race.
It is easy to note that nations who host ARWS rounds have more teams represented. Probably the strongest from S. America come from Argentina, Brazil and Ecuador. However, Toyota Adventure from Costa Rica and Paraguay's Walhalla Specialized - who both took part at the recent Ecomotion Race - could also be good surprises. Once I manage to talk with all of them I'll make it clear which are their ambitions on this announced hardest AR final of recent times.
But now, let's concentrate on the Brazilians involved in the race. There are 4 teams racing under a Brazilian flag and a total of 16 athletes.
Spain's Columbia Vidaraid has two Brazilians, Bárbara Bomfim and Marco Anselem. Actually, they are enrolled as the only "two nation flag" team even though mixtures like this happens to the majority of squads. Power girl Sabrina Grobo is racing with the experienced Tierra Viva team with three Argentineans, while the American Jennifer Moos joins the 3 Brazilians of Selva - which managed to finish second at Costa Rica last year and kept captain Caco Fonseca and Rafael Melges who were at Tasmania. The fourth member is a 2011 Ecomotion winner Lico Gall.
Maintaining its strategy of racing with high profile experienced international teammates, BMS'ers Camila Nicolau and Gui Pahl will join New Zealanders Seamus Meikle and Neil Jones. At last year's Ecomotion they had Kiwi Dougal Allan as a partner while this year Britain's Nick Grace matched up with them. Their concept is to learn from partners in order to build a strong all Brazilian team as soon as possible to fight for top rankings.
Only two Brazilian teams are comprised by athletes from the same nation. Enigma is formed by three friends that race for fun but took preparation very seriously for this final. They have raced together before and had an opportunity to learn from American Paul Romero at Brazil's ARWS race a couple of months ago. Because he was not available for Costa Rica they switched to one of the most experienced Brazilian racers and race director José Pupo.
Finally, captain Rafael Campos is leading Quasar Lontra followed by close friends and strong racers Tessa Roorda, Matheus Ferraz and Xikito Cardoso. This is an all Brazilian formation and they have lots of synergy as they are used to raceng together. Summing up, Campos winning at Costa Rica's 250km individual adventure race is proof that the team can feel confident.
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