The Arabian Quest
Second Place for 1st Arabian Woman Racer
John Falchetto (Arabian Quest) / 07.12.2006
This is the ordeal Alissar Elbaba, the first Arab woman adventure racing captain set her sights on some two months ago when she started training for the Arabian Quest Extreme race. Elbaba is proud to be the first Arab woman team captain to tackle one of the world’s most challenging sports.
“I’m invincible! All my life I have defied the odds and taken up challenges, adventure racing is merely another challenge,� said Elbaba.
Elbaba’s team, the Fast and Furious clocked in the second best time in the Extreme race in just over 7hrs. Team Slowly Slowly led by veteran adventure racer, Ski Sharp won top honours in 6hrs.
25 teams of two tackled a short and a long course. The short course, which aims to introduce beginners to the sport took racers on a steep mountain bike course, followed by an orienteering course on foot through a deserted village and back through the finish line at the Khatt Springs Hotel.
The Extreme course, a 60km ordeal, saw some 10 teams take on the challenge with a pre-dawn mountain bike start. Once arrived at the end of the mountain bike section challengers then swapped their bikes for running shoes to race across loose rocks and varied hilly terrain to reach a summit checkpoint.
The rope section consisted of a 100m abseil followed by a mid-wall traverse and a 60m ascent on fix ropes.
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