Kaieteur Falls which is one of the longest and widest rivers in South America and the longest river in Guyana. The falls were discovered by Europeans in 1870 by a party led by Charles Barrington Brown, a British geologist appointed as a government surveyor to the colony of British Guiana. Brown and his partner James Sawkins had arrived in Georgetown in 1867, and while they did some of their mapping and preparation of geological reports together, some work was performed in separate expeditions, and Sawkins was taking a break from his work at the time of Brown's discovery of Kaieteur. At this
South American Cross Country Championships competition schedule featured long races for senior men and women, and shorter races for junior men and women. This was expanded in 1991 with the addition of a youth competition for younger runners. Keeping in line with changes to the IAAF World Cross Country Championships, the South American championships also held senior short race competitions between 1998–2006, to complement the established long races. The short races were removed from the programme after their removal from the World Championships in 2006. Brazil have been the most successful nation at the championships: they were undefeated in both of the long race team