---

Double the Distance

14.12.2007

The fourth day of the Oman Adventure 2007 gave contestants a completely new problem to deal with: that of distance. “This is a real double marathon day� explained Gérard Fusil. “No-one has ever had to run a distance like this here before�. Even when divided into two sections, the total distance of over seventy-two kilometres presented a real challenge all by itself. Another one to add to the Oman Adventure list, now in its third year.

Right from the start, variety has been the name of the game in this great international bike and run adventure. Thus this year’s teams have hardly stopped hiking down rivers, canyoning or making their way through water in the wadi bottoms. Starting in the foothills of the enormous Jebel Al Akhdar, the first two stages of the race will have taken the teams up to an altitude of over 2,000 metres, confronting extraordinarily steep inclines in daytime temperatures reaching up to 30° at times.

At the other end of the scale, the temperature dropped to around zero at one of the bivouacs on the side of Jabal Shams, the highest point in the Sultanate of Oman at 3,017 metres. In these extreme conditions of climate and terrain, all the athletes taking part in the Oman Adventure have achieved impressive sporting feats, with some producing quite incredible performances.

The reward for all this effort is that it is being made in the most stupendous surroundings. The Sultanate of Oman is a country only half the size of France, yet it offers, between desert and sea, a fascinating vista of colourful, bare, rugged mountains, sometimes sheltering at the bottom of a vertiginous drop the most astonishing wadis, watering oases of green.

No-one who takes part in the Oman Adventure can ever forget this unique experience in the heart of one of the most unusual countries in the world. On a more mundane level, the athletes will never forget today’s leg of the race either. Most of it took place along wadis, often dried-up and with grey, gravely, sandy soil which would sometimes give way to pebbles or rubble without warning. Progress here was often very difficult, whether on foot or by bike.

This “double marathon� leg of the race nevertheless had little effect on positions in either category, apart from the performance of Omani team 68 A’RUSTAQ, consisting of Yoosf Al Ma’amri and Khalifa Al Abri, who took fourth place from 73 LATTITUDE 55 AMC REFLEXIONS.

See All Stories On This Race