Ironman watching Brazil closely

Triathlon Forum
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As someone who has travelled to Brasil quite a bit, married into a Brazilian family, I’ve never felt unsafe there when out walking in the dark, even in some sketch areas. I’ve only been in Fortaleza, Santos, Sao Paulo, Guarujá & Natal - what can I say, I like me some beach life and the barraca’s that go with it.

There is also family in Goiânia, several other interior cities and other beach cities. No one has had an issue. Just be aware, don’t look like a target and don’t go into sketchy areas without someone who is local.

The exchange rate makes it a great place for developed currencies to travel to, think it’s $5 Real to the USD currently. The dollar has lost a bit of ground of late.

Flights are solid especially if you’re at an eastern US hub. West coast is a bit more of a pia. Latam (partners with Delta) and American (Gol) are the biggest airlines there. MIA is the biggest hub to Brazil.

All in all I can see us retiring to Brasil.

Hope that helps

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Next year I would like to tick off two bucket list challenges in one trip. The UB515(Ultraman Brasil) and Bikepacking the famous Ruta 40 (5,500k,the length of Argentina along the eastern edge of the Andes). I almost went this year until I saw the outrageous cost of flights from Oz.

20 years ago I rode from Buenos Aires to La Paz in Bolivia and it was probably the best bike trip I’ve ever done.

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You Missed The Joke GIFs | Tenor

(Also, in Europe it’s more like 99%.)

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Good to see Scott DeRue there. Maybe a backup location for 2028 70.3 WC in case Nice bails with the new Mayor on a rampage. I have never been to South America. Friends in Chile keep pushing me to head there and I realize it is a completely different world from Brasil. I was looking at Ironman70.3 Punta del Este Uruguay for this year, but ended up going to Mallorca.

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I’ve never raced to an IM or 70.3 without closed roads so not sure if in other continents they like people getting ran over…

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We have several 70.3’s in Canada on open roads with controlled traffic (definitely Victoria and Muskoka which I did last year). Tremblant has coned off lanes so that counts as closed roads, and I don’t know about Calgary, but pretty sure it’s on open but controlled roads. Ironman Ottawa is closed roads. Iornman 70.3 Penticton and Ironman Canada Penticton in 2024 were on open roads.

That being said, I have never felt worried.

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That’d be worrying for me though. We pay a ridicolous entry fee to Ironman that is normally justified with the cost of closing roads for the main part…

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If I may chime in, I’m Brazilian, and I did the race last sunday. Florianópolis is probably one of, if not, the safest capital city in Brazil. Most of the event takes part in Jurerê Internacional, which is mainly a summer spot. May/june is winter here, so no vacationers, it is all about ironman. As soon race ends, you’ll see the place becoming a ghost town. But the neighborhood is pretty good.

Not a hot race for north americans and europeans, between 16 and 24ºC. Calm sea swim, mainly flat bike course (sometimes a bit windy, but not the case sunday), lots of people cheering at the run course, brazilian crowds are fun.

Only things I can see as annoyances:

Flight situation, Florianópolis is south of Brazil, airport is new, but small. You may have to stop in Rio de Janeiro or São Paulo before. Also, Jurerê is about an hour from the city center, so renting a car or hire some transportation is necessary. And I’m also aware that a fare to Brazil may be expensive, unfortunately.

Bike course is semi-closed, going to city center and back, shared with traffic, but, didn’t feel unsafe at all, the cars were slow and in a single line. I think you’ll be more pissed off with drafting, we have a bad reputation for that.

Other situation is the weather, last two years the race had really good conditions, but the three years before, heavy rainfall. They moved around the date a few times to avoid that.

Overall, I believe it is a really good race. The guys who run ironman races here are competent. They run other 5 70.3 races here, all in capital cities too.

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Thanks good stuff !

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A few more things I remembered:

The last 2 years as soon registration opened, 30 minutes later the race was sold out. There is a strong demand from locals, because it’s the only full distance happening here, in a place and time of year we know it is not hot (70.3 Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo can be very hot, even in the middle of winter/autumn).

And if you do try to find lodging, you may want to search well ahead of time. Prices go way up near the race, locals know people will be there to race, and they take advantage. There are nice apartments near Jurerê Open Mall, where you can find places to eat, and a supermarket. Generally there are 2, 3 bedroom to share if you want to, and it’s about 1,5k from transition, but it’s a few meters from swim start. Or, if you have the budget, you can rent a house at Avenida dos Búzios, right where the run course is.