Oct 8, 2022

5 min read

1. Intro

Initial overview document

The Brazil 135 Ultramarathon was inspired in concept and in spirit by the Badwater Ultramarathon in Death valley, California and was created by Dr. Mario Lacerda a veteran ultra runner.

This document will be my planing document for the race. I will use this document to keep my notes. Will be updated continuously.

I need this race to complete my curriculum vitae for Badwater 135 application. Date is January 12th, and is a 217 kilometers race.

Brazil 135 in short; dirt roads, many climbs, hydration. A lot of rainforrest. Hot climate.

Race rules

Main notes from Link

Cut off:

120 hours
48 hours for Badwater qualification

BIB

1- You must print your BIBs.
2- You and also your support team members, have to have two ( 2 ) BIBs . One (1) BIB will be attached in your front, another one(1) in your back
3- It is up to you to pick the collors
4- The size is 1/2 A4 and The numbers and letters dimmensions are: 5 Cm hight for 1cm large. See the attachment for more details.
5- Your support team members must have BIBs too. Their bibS ARE LISTED ON THE BRAZIL135 Website.

Drop bag

Aguas da Prata, 33 km
Borda da Mata, 135 km (blue)
Paraisopolis, 217 km (red)

Race start

08:00

Other …

Race goal

Need to finish before The Badwater Time Qualification which is 48 hours
1st place gives direct BW135 ticket.
No idea yet, but someone is saying that I should aim for sub 23 hours (which is below race course record).

Mandatory equipment

NOT YET

Support/Crew

Luciano Alves and wife will support me. In addition they will get two additonal resouces. Alves ran this race in 2018 at 25h47. I met him at the start of Spartathlon 2021 (ref. below).

Support car is needed

Drop bags

Drop Bags are allowed in the specific points according to the rules letter H.

Aid stations

NOT YET

Route

Start line: City of São João da Boa Vista , state of São Paulo

Finish line: City of Paraisópolis , state of Minas Gerais
A 217 km point-to-point course on the Caminho Da Fé.
Only 17 km of relatively flatter terrain, 9.000 + meters of cumulative ascent, 8.500 + meters of cumulative descent.
The course route is on the Mantiqueira Mountains — ( A Sub Range of the Andes Cordillera ).

Start: São João da Boa Vista (São Paulo), finish: Paraisópolis (Minas Gerais)

Elevation gain: 7705 meter, eleveation loss: 7631 meter

Course record

Kleber Felipe dos Santos have the BR 135 record with 23:29:33 h from 2018.

Covid-19

According to https://www.gov.br/, there are — as of September 13th 2022 — new rules for entering Brazil. Ref. link

Travelers may opt for providing either a proof of vaccination or a negative test.
An antigen test or RT-PCR test, with a negative or non-detectable result for Covid-19, carried out one day before departure.

I have sent Mail sent to race organisers at October 8th to verify if there are any race specific requirements or other regional rules.

Make sure to check requirments for transit countries.

Yellow fever

No strong recommendation for the area I will be running. → Not needed.

Boostrix Polio

Recommended if more than 10 years since last dose. → Needed.

Hepatitt A

Recommended, and is normally done as combo with Hapatitt B. → Needed.

Traveling / accommodation

Airport: São Paulo Guarulhos (GRU) international airport
Find accommodation close to start line which is City of São João da Boa Vista , state of São Paulo