Race bibs awaiting distributionAdventure racers from around the world have converged in Abu Dhabi for the fourth edition of the Abu Dhabi Adventure Challenge (ADAC). With fifty teams from eighteen different countries present, this years race will be the largest ever. With a full roster and a long waiting list,the teams that left their registration to the last minute were frustrated not to be able to compete, as was the case with the reigning World Champs, Buff Thermocool.
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Coming as it does at the end of the season, in such an exotic location, ADAC is the spoonful of sugar that helps the bitter winter of the Northern hemisphere go down. With top prize money, consistently paid on time, it is part of the big money circuit. So who has come out to play this year?
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Looking at the team list several names stand out as potential podium material. The race has been won for the past three years by Richard Ussher’s team and many would love to be the team that ends the Ussher supremacy. The Scandinavian team Silva is here and hungry after their disappointment at the World Champs at the Bimbache Extrem. They are a strong team but for this race a surprising unforeseen event in Sweden may hinder their performance. A short time ago their lady racer, Martina Hook, competed in the biathlon world cup in Ostersund where over 9,000 people fell ill due to a parasite in the water. She has just recovered and time will tell if she is on top form. Fleur Pawsey’s team from New Zealand,Orion, will undoubtably be a force to be reckoned with, having come in second last year.
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French racers Jacky and Mimi have teamed up with Martin Flinta from Thule to form the Thule Adventure Team/Europe. Among the best of the French racers they have too often graced the fourth place and are looking for a good result following last years error in the choice of mountain biking tires on a sand section, but as Mimi said this morning they know from experience that it’s a hard race and anything can happen. On the international circuit they have beaten Richard Ussher on three different occasions in the 2010 season. Their compatriots, Issy Adventure, captained by the seasoned adventure racer Phillipe Chod had a nasty surprise at the airport in Paris yesterday when one of their teammates discovered that his passport had expired and this morning they were scrambling to find a solution. In total there are 10 French teams, the largest contingent of all the nations present, followed by 9 local teams from the U.A.E.
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