Sports
How La Misión Became a Trail Running Icon in Brazil
Sidney Togumi and Shubi Guimarães look back at the race's arrival in the country and analyze the pillars of its organization.
Sidney Togumi recalls his transition from adventure racing to trail running in 2009 and bringing La Misión to Brazil. Alongside Shubi Guimarães on XTREMMA Sports, the coach details how bold leadership and dedicated focus raised the event's technical standard.
Sidney Togumi's transition from adventure racing to trail running took definitive shape in 2009. The turning point was participating in La Misión in Argentina—which, at the time, was still exclusively a trekking event with map and compass navigation. After competing in Desafio dos Vulcões twice, an event also led by organizer Guru, Togumi discovered the Argentine race and decided to fully shift his focus to mountain and trail running.
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The Arrival of La Misión in Brazil and its Benchmark for Excellence
Responsible for bringing La Misión to Brazil, Togumi helped build an event that became a premier benchmark on the national mountain running scene. In a conversation on the XTREMMA Sports podcast, multi-sport athlete and organizer Shubi Guimarães—a veteran of prestigious international races such as UTMB in Chamonix—highlighted the Brazilian race as the best in the country across several dimensions: technical course design, operational safety, scenic beauty, and runner support from pre- to post-race.
Focused Management and Continuous Improvement
Although he was the pioneer of the event on national soil, Togumi attributes the current standard of La Misión Brasil to the work of Paulinho, who leads the race's operations. His personal dedication and bold decision-making turned the event into a life project, allowing the competition to grow in complexity without compromising the athlete experience.
One of the main differentiators highlighted in the conversation is the decision to host only a single major race each year. While production companies managing multiple events must divide their teams across busy calendars, focusing all efforts on one annual edition enables continuous investment in safety, logistical enhancements, and course refinement across Brazil's most challenging mountains.
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