Photos: Post-race, Sheikh Zayed Mosque

With the whole day to play before our late night flight, we took advantage of the time to do some sight seeing. Our first stop was the Sheikh Zayed Mosque, a kilometre or two from our hotel. Read the Wiki entry (link above). It is a fascinating place.

This courtyard, paved with floral marble designs, covers 17,000m².

57 domes cover the walkways around the courtyard and the main building. I couldn't get low enough to fit in the 115m tall minaretes on the corners of the courtyard.

Women are given an abaya (black outer-garment covering) and shaylah (head scarf) to wear in the mosque. It was really fun to wear and very comfortable and cool. As the guys were wearing shorts, they were given the ankle-length white shirts, kandura, to wear. Seeing the Emirati (and other Arab cultures) around town and the malls - they really look very elegant. The full face coverings are not quite my thing; but the headscarves are quite elegant. As for the men; I do think the kandura and headscarves are pretty cool and when worn properly it looks very elegant. The one racer, who works in Abu Dhabi, told me that the men sometimes get changed three times a day to keep clean!

 

A room before the main prayer hall. Where the decorations outside and on the outer walls and pillars are intricate inlays, these flowers are in relief.

The World's largest chandelier in the main prayer hall. It is 10m in diameter and 15m in height. There are others - a bit smaller - in this room too. It is very striking and I like that the coloured balls add an element of fun.

Standing on the World's largest carpet in the main prayer hall. The hall accommodates 9,000. According to Wiki, 'this carpet measures 5,627 m2 (60,570 sq ft), and was made by around 1,200 weavers, 20 technicians, and 30 workers. The weight of this carpet is 47 tons – 35 tons of wool, and 12 tons of cotton. There are 2,268,000 knots within the carpet.' The guys were not allowed to touch me so that's why we're standing like little soldiers in this photo.

Nice photo of the carpet (thanks to Wiki). The pillars are decorated with silvery floral inlays - looks like mother-of-pearl.

Outside the mosque

This is a very impressive structure. Although it was opened during Ramadan in 2007, there is still construction happening around the building and also a lot of activity in the gardens. This mosque accommodates 40,000 worshippers. Sheik Zayed is buried somewhere here too. The white - inside and out - is marble. This is the largest mosque in the Emirates and the 8th largest in the World.

Photos: Day 6

Our final day began at 03h00! We caught the bus at 04h30 to the start and began running, flat-out, at 5am. This run, in the dark, was a crazy 'run as fast as you can following a GPS on rocky terrain' stage. Nasty. We did well though and progressed swiftly to complete the run in 2hrs. Next came the canyoneering, up the mountain, which was amazing!

Waiting at the start of the canyoneering. We left in the order we'd arrived and with a bit of a gap between teams to avoid bottlenecks, especially in the beginning.

One of the race's more colourful characters - Hugo, a French racer. He's a super guy and we hung out with him a lot.

Alex and Francois

Up, up, up. There was only a small bottleneck in the beginning. After this the teams moved more swiftly. I found these short stops useful for taking photos.

Francois crests a steep section

Not even half-way up! Without a breeze in the canyon it was hot and humid. We were drinking and sweating plenty.

Alex

A quick photo while waiting for teams ahead to progress

The rocks are amazing - this was a super section. And the amount of roping on the route - a lot of work by race organisation! And very well managed.

Up, up!

Almost at the top. Yes, that's the ground below where we started from. I'm not sure but it must have taken just over two hours to ascend to this point. Must have been an ascent of around 1000m!

Team photo at the top. Unfortunately the weather was overcast and hazy, so the view from the top was quite clouded.

After a bike ride from the top of Jebel Hafeet to Al Ain (37km) and a run from the Al Ain oasis to this fort, the race was over. An amazing six days of sport in this beautiful country.

27th place! Receiving our medals at the awards dinner

Photos: Day 5

This mountain biking stage sticks in our memories for the wind and sand. The first part to the Qsar al Sarab Desert Resort was fast-paced on decent roads. Bumpy in the beginning, then smooth tar and then bumpy again. From the resort we ate sand from start to finish as we rode the 55-odd kilometres to the stage finish. Hot, windy and sandy - wicked combination.

With our Souff African supporters at Qsar al Sarab. Peter (in pink shirt) came to cheer us on last year too. New additions include Johan and 'Bossie'. Unfortunately Mark Joyce has left by the time I remembered to take a photo. They've been working out here and now that the resort is almost complete they'll head into Abu Dhabi city to start work on a new resort. Guys, thank you for your warm welcome.

Looking like a sand castle, Qsar al Sarab really is a desert wonder. It costs around R4000 a night to stay here. I wouldn't mind a couple of nights here... Perfect relaxation with an amazing desert view.

Team photo at Qsar al Sarab

The pool

We were really keen to end the mtb stage right there and spend the afternoon in the pool. No such luck!

Sand biking - tough, tough, tough section. Hot and we were out of water, trying to get bottles from the passing event vehicles. On and off our bikes in the drifts. The finish was very welcome. (photo from event website).

The first thing we went for after crossing the line was our water. We easily gulped down a litre without taking a breath. Phew!

Sand-encrusted faces - Christo: even has sand caked on his eyelashes!

One of my favourite photos from the race - Francois So much sand and salt on his face!

Alex's post-biking face... See the sand plus sweat = mud on his forehead ;)

Me - so crusty! Not even baby wipes work for this stuff!

A bus of dirty, stinky, sandy and crusty racers on the way to Jebel Hafeet for the final camp and race stage. I felt sorry for the bus driver having to tolerate the reek!

The camp below Jebel Hafeet - on grass. We washed in the stream (yes, pumped water) and enjoyed a delicious dinner sitting in the bedouin tents. We were up at 3am to begin the final stage the next morning. Sleep, on the lush grassy surface, was good. 

Photos: Day 4

We woke a few hours before dawn, after completing our compulsory rest at CP5. We headed directly for CP6, skipping CP5+ and chosing instead to get CP6+ as our second and last optional checkpoint before the finish.

Pastel hues before sunrise

Pre-sunrise team photo. Yes, it does indeed look like Francois has grown horns overnight... ;)

Alex navigated a superb route rom CP6 to CP6+.

We crossed the pan and went up and over the dunes on the far side.

The desert is not completely barren. There are some plants and shrubs around; mostly around the edges of the pans. These pretty flowers were at the top of a dune. There are also animals, aside from camels - some antelope and possibly rabbit-type critters. The water table is only 2-3m below the pans, but the water is very brackish.

Alex takes a power rest

A camel camp a few kilometres before the finish.

Mission accomplished and desert trek completed in 31 hours

Alex grows another baby toe...

Desert camp, on a pan. Hard ground for sleeping. Shower trucks were most welcome.

Once clean and with tents setup, we spent the afternoon chilling, chatting, socialising and eating in one of the two bedouin tents. Yes, carpets and cushions provided too. Lovely.

One of our tents (we had two 2-person tents) acting as a washing line.

We got boxes of Al Ain water at the checkpoints and camps. 1.5l per bottle. We often got additional bottles too.

Photos: Day 3

Desert trekking day - first of two. Out in the desert you can drop your camera and get an amazing photo. The wide expanse is breathtaking. I absolutely love the desert - if only it wasn't for the sand that gets into everything!

Packing up camp and ready to load our crates on to the truck.

Racers assembling under the start blimp

With our gaiters on and ready to traverse the dunes

Making good time across the flat pans. The surface in the pans is 'crunchy' underfoot.

First dune ridge

The guys visit the gents... Francois is out of shot to the left

Photos do not do justice to the vastness and openness of the desert

Front teams at CP4. They got CP3+, an optional, on the way. We came through direct from CP3. Here they are resting for a few hours during the heat of the day. We left shortly after arrival for CP4+, getting there before the leading teams caught us. It was a good decision to skip CP3+.

A French team left CP4 before us; we beat them to CP4+. They're pictured behind Christo leaving the checkpoint. We followed a few minutes later, taking a different route to the next compulsory.

Leaving CP4+ we saw two groups of camels. These ones were nearby, crossing the same pan - 31 camels walking in a line to their overnight camp. This area has many camel camps. Food is provided for them by the camel farmers. The camels return to their camps every night (quite like cattle!).

We slept at the next compulsory checkpoint, getting up after completing out compulsory rest period.