Abu Dhabi Adventure Challenge
The Race in Review
18.12.2007
How fitting that, in the image of the host country itself, the first winners of this new event on the adventure-racing horizon should be a group of individuals that, though having never raced this format together as a team, harbours some of the savviest and swiftest athletes in the sport today. And, just as the country of Abu Dhabi has managed to shrewdly juxtapose tradition with modernity, this “new� team took the lessons learned by each in the past and galvanised themselves into an unbeatable combination.
In a land still undergoing the pangs of rebirth but conscious and respectful of a millennial heritage, Richard USSHER and his team took on the world’s best, while discovering the pristine, azure waters of the Arabian Gulf, the overwhelming vastness of the desert and the soaring, rocky heights of the Jebel Hafeet mountains; a race across the three natural dimensions of this mysterious country.
The race opened with a 2-day, 118km sea-kayaking stage that coupled a steep learning curve, brand new sea-kayaks with 3 built-in sails, subsequently rendered obsolete by a wearisome headwind, with the absence of navigational landmarks and the risk of grounding in the shallow waters. Overnight, the teams would bivouac at a checkpoint on one of 5 islands dotting the course along the Arabian Gulf and set off again early next morning for the seaside resort of Mirfa.
The New Zealand “newbies�, already ahead after some powerful paddling, struggled hard against the daunting headwind to stay ahead of the pack, acutely aware of being hunted down by the all conquering NIKE (USA), “riding high� thanks to some astute tidal management. Only 4 minutes separated these two relentless rivals while biggest threat, French flagship team WILSA HELLEY HANSEN, eventual 3rd place winners, were already 20 minutes off the race lead.
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