Kona Land of the Yeti Duathlon
Run/Ride in Himalaya
Phil Evans (Extreme World Challenges) / 14.10.2008
It may not be the largest starting lineup in duathlon history, but it is possibly one of the most intrepid.On October 20, a group of around 10 adventurous athletes from the UK, Australia and Nepal will take a 1 hour flight and embark on a 7 day trek to reach the start line of the first ever duathlon to take place from the base of Mt Everest.
Starting at Gorak Shep, the last settlement before Everest base camp and over 5100metres high, competitors will firstly enjoy 50km of running over 2 days along rocky mountain trails, dropping a total of 2200m in altitude, surrounded by a spectacular backdrop of some of the worlds highest mountains, including Mt Everest.
Once back at Lukla, the areas only commercial airstrip, the athletes will collect their mountain bikes for a further 100km of undulating mountainous terrain, and a cumulative ascent/descent of over 6000m, to arrive at Jiri 3 days later.
With ultra runner Lizzy Hawker taking approx 36 hours to cover this distance during her record breaking 74 hours and 35 minutes run from Everest base camp to Kathmandu, competitors in the duathlon can expect to be out on the trail for an average of at least 7 to 8 hours per stage.
Amongst the list of entrants is 3 times Tenzing-Hillary Everest Marathon winner Dipak Raj Rai. The high altitude athlete, who has been sponsored by HeatmaxUK, must be odds on favourite to take at least a first stage victory but having never ridden a mountain bike until only a few weeks ago, may struggle over the more technical sections during the 3 days riding.
If Dipak was to take overall victory however, he would be awarded with a new 2009 Kona Kula MTB, donated by the event sponsors, Kona, and could go on be a formidable opponent in Nepali mountain bike events.
Other competitors include, Chandra Chetri, Nepal, (Kathmandu’s famous unicyclist), Jobir Rai, Nepal and also a regular competitor in high altitude marathons, Joel Watson from Australia, Ian Jones, Ian Sharman and Phil Evans all from the UK.
Along the route contestants will be staying in local teahouses, but must carry all the equipment they require for the 5 day race. Race rules also state they must carry out everything taken into this fragile mountain environment including empty energy bar wrappers, spent batteries etc, so tough decisions will have to be made before leaving Kathmandu between comfort and extra weight, or being frugal and traveling light.
This inaugural event, organized by Extreme World Challenges, has caught the imagination of a number of UK companies and is supported by, Berghaus, Torq Ltd, HeatmaxUK and Eladon, and will be run with the assistance of Nepals top mountain bike tour company, Dawn till Dusk.
The race starts on October 29 and where possible we will be posting updates of the days events as they unfold along the route.
For more details of the race please go to www.extremeworldchallenges.com.See All Event Posts
