Brazil-Arab News Agency

Marina Sarruf*
marina.sarruf@anba.com.br

São Paulo – Equipe Selva ('Jungle Team'), comprised of four Brazilian athletes, is ready to face one of its greatest challenges: the Abu Dhabi Adventure Challenge, an adventure race to be held from December 9th to 14th, in the United Arab Emirates. A total of 27 teams from 15 different countries are going to travel 600 kilometres in several disciplines, including camel-riding orienteering in the desert.

"We have never competed in the desert before. We are going to experience extreme temperatures," stated the captain of the team, Marcio Campos. According to him, in addition to desert trekking, the team will also do ocean kayaking, "which is going to be complicated as well." In addition to those, they should also do inline skating, mountain biking and vertical techniques using ropes.

All teams will be mixed. In the case of Selva, there are three men and a woman. The competition will take place over the course of six days, and the teams should spend the nights in bivouacs. According to Campos, each athlete will carry a backpack, which should contain a first-aid kit, GPS, clothing and food. "We are also going to need to carry a tent," he said. Campos said that the backpacks for the Abu Dhabi race are going to be quite heavy, at approximately 20 kilograms.

The first race abroad in which the team participated was the Volcanoes Challenge, held in March this year in Patagonia. Selva finished fourth among 50 teams. According to Campos, the team's goal for next year is to participate in more races abroad. "We have been competing for six years. This modality (Adventure Racing) has only existed in Brazil for eight years. And now we are more confident in ourselves," he said.

This is going to be the first edition of the Abu Dhabi Adventure Challenge, which will feature the world's leading teams. "At least five of the world's best teams are going to participate in the challenge," said Campos. In addition to the challenge, the competition has another attractive, a US$ 200,000 prize that will be divided among the 30 first to finish the challenge. "This is the highest prize we have ever competed for, but what leads us to participate is not just the prize, it is the opportunity to get to know wonderful places and to compete in great modalities," stated the captain.

The Selva team is sponsored by companies NSK Rolamentos, a maker of bearings, and Kailash, which manufactures sports products. In order to be able to take part in the Abu Dhabi Challenge, however, the team had to get another sponsor, as expenses were very high: the enrolment fee for the team alone cost 3,500 euros. With the aid of the event's organisers, the Selva team obtained the sponsorship of the Abu Dhabi Company for Onshore Oil Operations (ADCO). Afterwards, the name of the team in the event was changed to Selva ADCO.

The team

The Selva team was created in 2002 by Marcio Campos and Carlos Eduardo, both of whom hold degrees in Physical Education and have military background. The group is comprised of eight professional athletes that alternate with each other in competitions. In the Abu Dhabi Challenge, in addition to Campos and Eduardo, Erasmo Cardoso and Ursula Pereira will also participate. The Selva team, which is headquartered in the southeastern Brazilian city of São Paulo, also supplies sports advisory to several sports clubs in the state. "We have more than 100 students," said Campos, who also holds a postgraduate degree in Physiology.

*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum