Race Day in Brasília: Timeline, Cutoffs, and Plan B

The Day Before: Almost Everything Gets Decided Here

Bike and gear bag drop-off happens the day before. Bike check-in requires facial recognition and a photo ID, same as race packet and chip pickup. Structure your day like this: bags ready at the hotel in the morning, drop-off in the afternoon, early dinner. Use the time to memorize the courses: 2 bike laps and 3 run laps with less-than-perfect signage means lap counting is on you.

Race Morning: No Swim Warm-Up

Two things to know before the swim start:

• According to a race report, no practice swim or in-water warm-up is allowed. Your warm-up happens on dry land: resistance bands, shoulder mobility, a few minutes of activation. Practice this in training, don't improvise it on race day.
• The sun is in your eyes toward the first buoy: dark or mirrored goggles as your first choice, clear ones only as backup.

The Wetsuit Call: Be Ready for Both Scenarios

Lake Paranoá's water is reported around 24°C. The age-group threshold is 24.6°C inclusive: below that, wetsuits allowed; from 24.6°C and up, wetsuits and compression socks or sleeves are banned (fabric swimskin is fine). We're right on the line. The plan: bring both a wetsuit and a swimskin, train with both, and don't build your race around the wetsuit's extra buoyancy. The call comes with the official temperature reading on race morning; your only job is to be ready for either outcome.

The Three Time Cutoffs

Memorize these, especially if you're a borderline finisher:

• Swim: 1h10 for 1.9 km.
• Bike: 5h from the swim start, including T1, with an intermediate cutoff at km 66.7 at 11:06.
• Overall: 8h30.

The detail that catches people out: the bike cutoff includes T1. If you swim 1h05, you can't dawdle in transition. Keep T1 lean and rehearsed in advance: you already know where your gear is, you already know the sequence.

Classic Mistakes on This Course

1. Trusting the 'flat' label on the bike: sources disagree, ranging from ~600 m to ~1,378 m of elevation gain. Show up with flatland gearing and find the higher number, and you'll pay for it. 2. Waiting until you're thirsty: with average highs of 28°C, your hydration plan starts on the first bike lap, not at the first run aid station. 3. Losing count of laps: kilometer markers are hard to spot and lap counting could be better on the run course. Watch or rubber bands—either way, the count is on you. 4. Going out hard despite the altitude: 1,070 m isn't high altitude, but it raises perceived effort. Keep the first third of the race conservative. 5. Avoidable penalties: trash only in the drop zones at aid stations; cameras and audio devices banned (yellow card); 12 m draft zone with 25 seconds to complete a pass.

Plan B, Written in Advance

• If wetsuits are banned: swimskin or race suit, more conservative start, no drama. The water is fresh and calm, and it's a single lap.
• If the bike elevation is the higher figure: cut your power target by a few watts and protect the run. Better to lose 5 minutes on the bike than 15 minutes walking.
• If it's hotter than average: water over your body at every aid station, run pace adjusted downward from lap one, not lap three.

Time Benchmarks

Rough estimates, not official: comfortable finisher around 7:00 (0:45 / 3:20 / 2:35), mid-pack goal 6:00, fast race 5:15, top age-group 4:30. Use them to build your own personal cutoff pacing chart, with margin.