My name is Tiago Martins Aires and I was born on February 12, 1982 in Barreiro, near Lisbon, Portugal.
During the first 14 years of my life, I practiced many sports such as swimming, judo, rowing, soccer, gymnastics, climbing and handball. I started to practice athletics, but did not continue due to the lack of motivation.
Orienteering
It was only at the age of 16 that I discovered the sport of Orienteering. I was gradually captivated by mountain races in the forest and became therefore even more serious with this sport. What started as a sixteen year old boy’s hobby led me to represent Portugal national team since I was 19 years old until the present time.
I have competed, since 2002, in 19 different countries, not only in World Championships, European Championships and Latin Countries Cup, but also in other important events such as Tiomila, Jukola, O’ringen, 25Manna, NightHawk and World Cup events.
Mountain Races
Since I was a young boy, I occasionally did some mountain races, such as Manteigas – Penhas Douradas, Piódão, being these events part of the National Mountain Circuit. My best result was 3rd place in the National Mountain Championships in 2013.
In 2015 I participated and won two races of Trail Running (Estremoz and Cabo Espichel). In 2016 I won the Trail National Championship of trail, winning 5 of 6 races of this circuit. This season ended with my first national representation in the World Championship Trail Running in Gerês, Portugal (13th place and best Portuguese).
In 2017 I was injured almost the whole season. I decided to take advantage of this unfortunate outcome to prepare and improve myself for 2018, the year when I became National Champion of Skyrunning Ultra and represented Portugal in the Skyrunning World Championship in Scotland (11th place and best Portuguese).
“Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try Again. Fail again. Fail better”
Samuel Beckett