Last December, I wrote here that the worst form of loneliness is not just the company of a São Paulo native, as Nelson Rodrigues said, but the company of a São Paulo native in São Silvestre. The guy spends the whole year boiling coconuts in the capital and still has the bad idea of coming here on New Year’s Eve.
Better to keep your distance.
But, now that he has got rid of the traffic jams on the road, he decides to face one on Avenida Paulista, with another 55 thousand people, waiting for the start of São Silvestre.
Well, a lot of people, São Paulo residents and foreigners, pay to be in this portentous crowd – and many paid more willingly this year, which marks the centenary of the event.
The problems on registration day, at the end of September, with people molding and molding and molding in endless digital queues, have already entered the history of the “dos and don’ts” of organizing mass events in Brazil. Less bad, another 5,000 places were opened, to be drawn this week, which indicates the likely new mechanism to be adopted in these events for crowds, such as the SS itself and Mara do Rio.
But, if you weren’t able to register for the SS, hit the goalpost in the draw and decided not to go to the “marketplace” of second-hand registration hells, I bring you good news: more than a dozen 10 km night races alluding to São Silvestre will take place until the end of the year in Portugal.
And, even better, to finish with a flourish, another 10 km on December 31st opens the New Year’s Eve celebrations in the always festive Madrid, Spain.
On December 27th, a Saturday, Lisbon organizes an SS with human-scale crowds – 14 thousand people last year.
This SS, possibly more Christmassy than New Year’s Eve, passes through the dream scenes of Lisbon, Rocio and Cais do Sodré, for example, to end in the beautiful Terreiro do Paço. Registration can be done through the same Ticket Sports as SS São Paulo registrations. Another good news: it’s much cheaper than the test here; It costs from R$154 or €16 (tax excluded).
Another 17 São Silvestre events take place in Portugal from the end of November until the next Three Kings Day – January 6th – in various cities in Terrinha. Close to Porto there are two, in Santo Tirso and Ermesinde, respectively 30 km and 10 km from the eye-catching Torre dos Clérigos and the church of Lapa, where the heart of our Dom Pedro 1st – their Dom Pedro 4th – rests.
But, if your friend thinks that São Silvestre is necessarily a New Year’s Eve program, the place to be is Madrid – I wonder when you shouldn’t be in Madrid. Starting just before eight in the evening, this festive 10 km ends at the Las Vallecas stadium, Rayo Vallecano’s very friendly home ground. For those who can run the distance under 39 minutes (men) and under 45 minutes (women), there is a race within the race, with limited places.
Having lived fifty years and smoke in this former land of drizzle, I rejoice with São Paulo, but I also enjoy it. It is in spring that the city’s streets are filled with the yellow flower of the sibipiruna, a leafy species widely used in public afforestation decades ago and which tends to disappear with the extreme weather events that await us. Along with the pitangueiras, whose fruit also bears fruit now, they are one more reason to run around the city. Enjoy.
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