More traditional street race race from São Paulo, São Silvestre arrives this year in its 100th edition with a series of complaints from amateur corridors who could not register.
Due to the high demand, because it is a commemorative brand, the registration process, opened last Thursday (25), had all 50 thousand vacancies available in record time, about six hours.
According to the organizers, more than 150,000 people came to the virtual line simultaneously to try to secure a place on the starting line on Paulista Avenue on December 31st.
People who could not register report that they even took place in the virtual line as soon as they started, waited for a few hours until their turn, and when they would finally have the right to register, by a system mistake, they were sent back to last place, having to restart the whole process.
Residents from outside São Paulo who had already bought airfare and reserved hotel in advance ended up seeing the plan to participate in the 15 km race by the state capital to go downhill.
This is the case of the Physical Education teacher and “Personal Trainer” Alfredo Bessa, 59, from Fortaleza.
He said he planned to have the free morning and enter the virtual line as soon as she opened, at first at 10am (Brasília time) on Thursday, they had informed the organizers.
“A few hours earlier, I learned that the line would start at 9am. I think they changed last minute,” Bessa said, adding that when she entered the system, she observed about 20,000 people in front of her.
Three hours later, when he appeared as the first in line, he received a message saying that his registration number had been rejected and that he would have to restart the process.
Upon entering the line again, there were more than 100,000 people in front of him. “It happened three times with me. Even so, I didn’t give up. I was up to 3 pm when they reported that the registration was closed,” he said.
Sought by the report, Vega Sports, responsible for organizing the race regretted the disorders caused.
“Sports advisors, tourism agencies and similar agencies have specific quotas for the São Silvestre International Race, planned in the General Regulation and within a usual adopted by the street racing market. In the case of the hundredth edition of São Silvestre, about 12% of the total registration was open to such segments,” the statement says.
“Due to the very high demand, the event’s official ticket platform has undergone instability since the opening of the line, which greatly damaged the experience of stakeholders. The organization of the test reinforces that it worked incessantly to solve such technical issues and apologizes for the inconveniences generated,” the text concludes.
Already the ticket said in a note being aware of the “frustration and anxiety of each one that awaited for this moment.” We are also deeply sad about what happened, “he said. The platform also stated that” continues to review the processes and implementing improvements so that experiences like this do not repeat in the future. “
“I was very frustrated and disappointed,” said Bessa, who first participated in the race in 1988 and said she never had a similar situation before. “Imagine my anxiety to participate in the hundredth São Silvestre. It was very important to participate in this test.”
As he had already bought the tickets, he will travel to Sao Paulo anyway to walk around the city and see the corridors.
His race student Jairton Lima, who would participate in São Silvestre for the first time, ended up having the same problem and also failed to register. “I am so far not believing that I will not participate in the race,” said Lima.
He said people who entered the Ticket Sports app instead of the official website, said they were able to sign up after just a few minutes.
“I read the whole announcement about how to register, I prepared all the documentation. I even had access to the Ticket Sports app because I already made other inscriptions there, but at no time they said that the app we could get faster,” the 52-year-old chemical engineer was complained.
“I went along the traditional path of the site, because they spoke to wait for my turn to arrive,” said Lima. He added that he even sent an email to the organizers with complaints about the process, receiving an apology and promise that they will work to improve their work in 2026.
Carioca actor and presenter Julio de Sá, 34, who also failed to register, criticized the lack of information. “I was very excited to participate in my second São Silvestre. There is a frustration of not being able to participate in this party, but the biggest revolt is with the lack of transparency in the registration process.”
According to him, although the organization states that there are 50 thousand vacancies, sports advisors have a kind of market reserve, ensuring a certain amount of enrollment to their students who are not officially disclosed. “We do not know how many vacancies were actually open to the general public,” he said.
The advisory “Run in Ibira”, for example, from Urbia, the concessionaire responsible for the administration of Ibirapuera Park, published a statement on social networks in which he says “there is no exhausted vacancy” in São Silvestre for those who are his student.
“Not yet a student?! Is this the perfect time to start training with us and living to São Silvestre the right way,” says the text, accompanied by a series of comments with criticism of corridors who could not register.
“Of the total entries for legal entities for the organization of the event, Urbia has acquired 175 tickets that will be made available to the students of the Run program in Ibira, for the same value applied to the general public. Run on Ibira brings together runners of different levels, from beginners to high performance athletes, and students will have access to tickets for race as long as availability,” said Urbia in a statement.
The concessionaire also stated that it is an official supporter of the race and that an event about São Silvestre will be held in the park.
