The Abu Dhabi Adventure Challenge
'Bright Lights, Big City'
Anne-Marie Dunhill / 02.12.2009
The lobby of the opulent Hotel Park Rotana in the outskirts of Abdu Dhabi has been the rendez-vous point all day as arriving teams caught up with the news from their fellow racers. I had been briefed that this was going to be a “mind-blowing gig� but nothing really prepared me for the world I stepped into off the flight from grey, cold Paris.
Sharing the flight with Karine Baillet and two of her team members, we stepped off the plane into a balmy night, a slightly salty smell to the humid air. Today being a national holiday, the vast 4 lane highways lined with palm trees were practically empty and large displays of fireworks were captured the eye in every direction. The impression was one of lights, lights everywhere as the buildings and cranes twinkled in the night.
Benjamin Midena, an excellent French orienter is here, only fifteen days after racing with Buff/Coolmax at the ARWC in Estoril Portugal. Benjamin, who is racing with another formation of Spanish racers for Buff, says that this race is a pleasurable way to end his season; a hard fast race with strong competitors in an agreeable climate. He added that one aspect of this race that he really enjoys is the fact that in the bivouacs all of the teams are together and he gets a chance to mingle with his fellow international adventure racers, something he sorely misses in other races. Also a gifted linguist, mingle he does.
On a more sobering note Eric Jeanne a French ex-pat living in Dubai discussed the story behind his teams’ participation in this race. His team, Al Masar/Salomon AU with be racing in memory of their teammate, Gregory Autunes, who was killed in a car accident ten days ago in Dubai. Eric said that at first after the tragic accident they pushed all thoughts of the race aside in their grief but Gregory’s family asked them to do the race in his memory. The remaining team members scrambled to reconstruct their team to honor his memory, recruiting Franck Garcin who had also raced two years ago in Caneo Nature in France as a last minute replacement in an all-girls team. When their female team member, also a last minute recruit from Scotland, injured herself on Sunday, they refused to give up and recruited Anne Simon, a strong French racer who had just returned from the Dream Raid in New Caledonia. Anne said that she learned she’d be joining the team Monday at noon and added that in these circumstances the team already feels a strong cohesion even before the race begins, even if they’ve only just met. Sincere condolences to Mr. Autunes family and no matter what the ranking of the team at the end of the race, their presence epitomizes the very heart of adventure racing which makes this sport so special.
Tomorrow morning the teams will be briefed, road maps and general maps distributed and administrative checks done and in the evening the teams will meet for the opening ceremony and dinner. But for the moment they are tucked up in bed in their lovely rooms, tastefully decorated in turquoise and chocolate tones, with dreams of desert adventures dancing through their heads.
SleepMonsters
