The 370km course covered six stages of trekking, mountain biking, paddling and navigation, starting with a short and fun river tubing stage. It was raining for the start at Estancia San Miguel and the wet and cold conditions made progress difficult for the teams in the early stages of the 5 day race.
Testing navigation is always a feature of the Expedicion Guarani courses, set by Race Director Urtzi Iglesias, and on the first trekking stage the Black Mamba team from Brazil took a strong lead. For most of the race it looked like they might claim their first ARWS Qualifier win, after finishing second in their previous race at Expedition Africa Namibia.
They completed the penultimate stage, a huge 213km long mountain bike ride, still with a big lead, but the demands of the ride, combined with a lack of sleep, proved too much and the team called for assistance and withdrew from the race. It’s always a tough decision for a team to withdraw, especially while leading and close to the finish line, but the welfare of the team members always comes first and after medical checks and some rest everyone in the team recovered well.
This change of fortune left Uruguay Ultra Sport in the lead, and they completed a hard fought race to take a historic win as it’s the first time a team from Uruguay has won an ARWS Qualifier. The team of Ruben Mandure, Frederica Frontini, Gonzalo Smaldone and Leonardo Yozzi, completed the course in 4 days 2 hours and 25 minutes, and claimed a free place at the World Championship in Ecuador in November.
Team captain Ruben Mandure was one of the first racers recognised in the Adventure Racing World Series Hall of Fame (at the 2022 World Championship in Paraguay) and the win is a high point in his long and prolific racing career.
He began adventure racing in 2000 when he was invited onto a team for Eco-Challenge. They called up the experienced triathlete to add strength and endurance to the team, and Mandure’s passion for adventure racing was ignited when he competed in Bornwo.
It is a flame which has burned bright for the past 26 years and his teams have experienced races, cultures and landscapes all over the world, sometimes making the podium and often featuring in the top 20 of the ARWS World Rankings.
Yet, in this long history of struggle and success a World Qualifier win has eluded him, until now! The top spot on the podium was hard won and a reward for the team’s determination to keep moving forwards, whatever difficulties they faced. Uruguay Ultra Sports was the only team to complete the full course, surviving to the end to celebrate on the finish line in their 6th race at Expedicion Guarani.
In an act of great sportsmanship and generosity the members of Black Mamba were on the finish line to congratulate and embrace the winners. Mandure, 57, said, “In a race like this, the winner can be the team that handles adversity the best. We are rivals with Black Mamba, but we are friends too and feel for them.
All of the team was very emotional on the finish line, and they were thinking too of their team mate Thiago Bonini, who was unable to compete. Gonzalo Smaldone said, “I just want to say to Thiago that we have shared so much together, and that now he is here with us in our hearts.”
Mandure summed up the feelings of the team. “For us it is an important moment. For many years we have achieved podiums and many victories in different countries and terrains, including Paraguay, a destination that has historically suited us well.
“However, since we dedicated ourselves almost exclusively to the ARWS racing, although we have obtained some podiums, this is our first victory. And it wasn't easy, Black Mamba managed to find a very difficult trail on the first night of the race while we had to go through the forest, which left them with a significant advantage.
“We trusted a lot in the race design, which favoured us for those final sections of MTB and paddling, which would be decisive, but they resisted a lot, until they collapsed due to lack of sleep. Now we are already thinking about the ARWC in Ecuador, because there we will once again compete with the best in the world. It's a challenge, and that's what we live for. We like to train, we like to compete, and we love trying to improve ourselves together. To measure up in a World Championship is not easy, but let's go for it!”
The podium was completed by the Paraguayan teams Ulala Hekla Sports and Adventure Flyers, with Silver Riders of Mexico the final race finishers in 4th place.
For full results and details of Expedicion Guarani visit; https://www.expedicionguarani.com/
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