The Italian Job

Rob Howard / 07.10.2004

While their teams were battling it out at the ACE Race Xtra Greame Hobson of HighFive, and Karen McDonald and Rob Smith of Team Polaris were in a very different contest in the Italian Alps.

They were among 9 British competitors in the final selection stage of Fulda Challenge, which takes place in the Yukon between January 29th and February 8th next year. Only one man and one woman represent each country in the challenge, which includes ice climbing, cross country skiing, mountain bike racing, snowshoe trekking and various driving challenges.

The 9 British contenders travelled to Italy to compete for the two places available over three days of intense physical challenge designed to test their fitness, endurance, determination and driving ability. They were joined by athletes from five other European countries – Austria, Switzerland, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands – all competing together, and each selecting their own Fulda Challenge team.

In the mountainous scenery of Italy’s South Tyrol they competed at the familiar disciplines of mountain running and biking, but quad biking, tree climbing and tyre pulling were all new activities for the three regular adventure racers.

After 3 tough days they narrowly missed out on selection and a trip to the Arctic when Richard Jackson, an Offshore Engineer from Newcastle and Emmie Gribble, a Marketing Manager (and former BBC SAS Desert Are You Tough Enough? competitor) from London won through.