He has previously won the under-18 New Zealand surfing title and competed in the Pro-junior Australasian surfing series.
“I’ve a couple of youngsters these days — Tré, who is three and a half, and Millie, who is eight months old — so I don’t compete internationally much these days.
“But this is a great opportunity.”
The winning team shares $20,000, with prize money down to fifth place.
There are five athletes in each team and eight different components to the competition.
It comprises a 35-kilometre mountain bike, a 30km mountain run for a male athlete, a marathon for a female athlete, surfing, skateboarding, a BMX ride, an outrigger canoe race for the whole team, and a 12km team run.
Five international teams and 15 from Brazil will take part.
Woods has been doing “heaps of training” since he was asked to join the Kiwi team.
“We’re keen to try hard to knock off the USA team, who won it last year, and the other Kiwi team members reckon we’ve got a good chance.”
He has yet to meet the other members of the New Zealand team.
“We hook up at the airport in Auckland on Monday to fly out to Brazil,” Woods said.
“We will train for a few days over there before the competition starts on November 7. I’m looking forward to it.”
