Arabian Quest

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Tomb Raiders

Rob Howard / 28.01.2006

A neatly arranged desert camp in the stony wastes of the Hajar mountains of the Emirate of Ras Al-Khaimah (RAK) was the base for the second race in the Arabian Quest series.

Organised by Canadian ex-patriot John Falchetto through his mountain tourism company, Mountain Extreme, the series is the only adventure race in the region and is beginning to attract competitors from outside the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Falchetto hails from Montreal and settled in Ras al Khaimah 5 years ago. He switches easily between French, English and Arabic, and having raced himself in Raid the North events back in Canada, and also in France and at the Raid Corsica he was ideally placed to establish a race series in Arabia. “My mountain trekking clients were telling me they wanted activities with more ‘edge’,� he explained. “So we had a mountain trail race, then tried an adventure race in March last year, and now we have a 3 race series.�

The first of those was in November 2005 and for this second event he was pleased to see a much more international entry, with racers travelling from across the region to take part. Charlie Brown of the Trailblazers club in South Carolina, USA had made the trip from Saudi Arabia, where he currently works with race partner David Dosier. Others had come from Qatar, Abu Dhabi and the ‘Anglo Dutch’ team of Ski Sharp and Marcel Braas made the trip from across the border in Oman. “It’s here or nowhere,� said Sharp, “it’s the only adventure race in Arabia!�

There was a strong entry from Dubai, only 45 minutes drive away and a few residents of Ras al Khaimah entered, but they were all ‘ex-pats’ working in the region. The camp talk around the Thursday night camp fire was a mixture of British, French, S. African, American and Dutch accents as competitors discussed what lay ahead and judged each other’s competitive experience.

The winners from the first race were back, though not always in the same pairs and the competitors from Dubai ineveitably knew each other well. Among the favourites were Adrian Hayes and Kevin West. Hayes is training for an attempt on Everest and regularly runs up and down skyscrapers in Dubai with a heavy pack, and West is an ironman triathlete. There were many triathletes racing as it’s a strong sport in the region and they been drawn to the challenge of adventure racing.See All Event Posts