The morning of Saturday 9/16 was very windy in La Barra, 10 kms away from the city of Punta del Este, where the CHARRUA CHALLENGE would start. At 2pm the adventure began when 100 athletes from 6 countries received their maps for the race, which joined the ARWS for the first time this year.

The race team had generated a type of maps, never used in Uruguay before, and launched them for the first time alongside an interactive tracking system with Track The Race.

“The response of the runners to our race inspired us to be innovative and generate value with the ARWS,” said organizer Alen Pujol.

The race began with an urban rogaine along the Barra, with the Argentine/Brazilian team from LITORAL being the first to complete the run and go out onto the mixed rogaine. The paddling on this stage was now shortened due to the windy conditions, so there was less decision making for teams.

The leading teams moved on a mountain biking stage at 5:30 p.m. while the rest of the teams battled in the wetlands at sunset in the beautiful Arroyo Maldonado, where there was a family of pink flamingos.

It was ALQUIMISTAS CAC from Argentina and Uruguay who arrived first and made a quick transition to the 77km ride.

Around 7pm, and after a fast ride, they arrived at an abandoned railway line which would take them to a ropes section with rappelling and zip lining. One member of each team descended from a railway bridge into the darkness, dropping into the river and then swimming 5m to shore.

The leaders continued at an excellent pace and took an advantage of almost an hour over La Costa Adventure when reaching TA3, where they began a night hill trek with complicated navigation that would challenge many teams.

It took the leaders, led by Martin Acevedo, almost 4 hours to complete 12 technical kilometres but their lead was maintained, with LITORAL chasing them, followed a few minutes later by LA COSTA.

The teams arrived at dawn in José Ignaci , where there is a famous lighthouse, and started a coasteering section in one of the most famous places in Maldonado and the Uruguayan Atlantic coast. Teams took a photo with the lighthouse, built in 1825, as a postcard to remember their visit, before returning to La Barra and the finish line.

Arriving at 9.30am ALQUIMISTAS CAC was delighted with their first ARWS race win. “It was difficult for us to put together the team,” said Omar Gonnet, “but each one was able to fulfil their role.”

“I didn't know what I was getting into,” said Marianna Muzio, who was a late addition to the team.

“Now the best on the continent await us in Brazil,” added an enthusiastic Martín Acevedo, as the team now has a place at the ARWS South America final at the Malacara Race in Brazil.

The next South American stage in the series will be the Desert Challenge on October 7 and 8 in Chile and the last possibility to qualify directly for MALACARA in December.

You can find out more about the race at http://charruaextremo.com/