Irresistible Abu Dhabi
News Release / 05.11.2010
One of the main objectives of the Abu Dhabi Adventure Challenge is to encourage the worldwide development of the sport among competent but relatively inexperienced athletes.
Today, with newcomers from around the globe flocking to test themselves in this internationally acclaimed event, is widely considered as an obligatory stop on the adventure racing calendar. This ability to continuously refresh the field by attracting new and eager talent to the race is due in part to the ongoing ADTA awards programme inaugurated in 2008.
The Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority introduced the scheme to aid new, highly competitive teams wishing to pursue a racing career on the international scene. As in the past, partnerships with existing events or organisations within the AR community were established and, through a process of competition or selection, 4 teams will be awarded the race entry fee and return tickets to Abu Dhabi for each team member.
Two of the teams will be chosen via the direct competitive route and must finish as the highest ranking team in a single race or series that has yet to race outside their home territory.
Sweden has already named a squad Statkraft Adventure Team, with expert adventure-racing tactician Arvid Björkroth at the helm of a group of experienced AR athletes. In July he led his team to 4th place in the 950 km Explore Sweden Monster race and was thrilled when his team was presented with the ADTA award.
In the USA, the award will be given to the first eligible team past the post in the season closer of the Checkpoint Tracker National Championships, to be run at the end of October. A strong turnout is expected and competition will be understandably fierce throughout the field as all the teams in the series compete in the grand finale where the “winner takes allâ€. (Ed. USARA National Champions Team Wedali are probably the favourites.)
For her 3rd year running as an ADTA award selector, Lisa de Speville is introducing another hand-picked team of South African newcomers to the international adventure-racing scene. This year Lisa has chosen a squad of three young women and one male who are not only new to international AR but have little experience over the distance and terrain they will encounter on the ADAC.
The other team qualifying through the selection process is from Australia where the SleepMonsters website has chosen Team Rogue from a short list of five teams from the 16 registered for the award. The team has a strong competitive track record in races in Australia, but little to no international race experience.
These four novice squads will be competing in a field of 50 teams drawn from at least 20 countries, a majority of which are competing in the race for the first time and have been lured to this universally acknowledged world-class event by its undeniable pedigree. In the words of Hadi Masron, captain of race rookies Sart Ecorace (Singapore): â€Other teams on the international circuit were already saying the ADAC was fast becoming the toughest race in the world. Well who could resist that challenge?“
SleepMonsters
