The deal, announced by IPC Athletics in conjunction with the Brazilian Paralympic Committee (BPC), will see races held at the Rio Half Marathon on August 31 and then at the São Paulo Marathon on October 19, with both events to be shown live on Brazil's biggest television channel Globo.

The announcement comes just two weeks after the second annual IPC Marathon World Cup was held in London and is part of a plan to increase the number of high quality distance events around the world for athletes with different impairments.

This will increase the standard of the competition and the international attention on the competitors, particularly in Latin America in the run-up to Rio 2016, it is hoped. 

The event will be open to athletes with visual impairments and for leg and arm amputees, as well as for wheelchair athletes.

The announcement follows other recent wheelchair road events, including the IPC World Cup in London and the Boston Marathon, both won by American Tatyana McFadden
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"This four-year agreement, which goes through to 2017, is part of our overall strategy to increase the number of top class events around the world, not just on the track but also on the road," said head of IPC Athletics Ryan Montgomery.

"The IPC Athletics Marathon World Cup has been a huge success in London since it was introduced in 2013 and we are confident that these regional events in Rio and São Paulo will have a similar impact.

"I would like to thank the Brazilian Paralympic Committee for their support in helping to secure this agreement and believe that both events will help raise awareness of Para-athletics ahead of the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games."

IPC vice-president Andrew Parsons, President of the BPC, claimed having two big events promoted by IPC Athletics here in Brazil as an "honour and a pleasure".

"We traditionally participate in marathons with some of our best athletes around the globe and now we give top class athletes from the whole Americas region the opportunity to compete against some of the best in the world close to their homeland," he added. 

"It helps us to build the momentum for the Rio Games in two years in time.