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The Empty Quarter

Anne-Marie Dunhill / 13.12.2010

The desert orienteering section of 116km through the Liwa desert closely resembled the commonly accepted definition of Hades. Temperatures overnight were cold and the day time temperatures were the hottest the race has experienced in the four years of its’ existence. This coupled with the clockwise change of direction on the race route meant that this section was even harder then expected with even the first team arriving over two hours after the estimated time of arrival. Instead of going up the compacted side of the dunes teams had to struggle their way up the softer side and one racer commented that it was a very strange dance of one step forward and three steps back.

Driving into the desert to catch up with teams, past the Moreeb dune,a road sign signaling “camels,horse and falcons race� added to the surreal atmosphere. A sharp right into a highly sensitive zone due to petrol and through the dunes we arrived at the last checkpoint before the section finish line.

The United States team, Yoga Slackers, arrived and put themselves in the shade of a 4x4 after punching in. They get along so well and have known each other for so long that interviewing them is like interviewing twins; one starts a sentence and the other one finishes it.

Due to the dryness one of their members had had a severe nosebleed and as he rinsed his blood stained Buff his team mate examined the bloody map and declared, “This map is now useless�. To which his friend replied, “Yeah, I’ve been bleeding for awhile�.

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