Last day continued...

Sorry - hit send button.

So Christo took my harness and carabiners and Alex took my small food packet. Whether physical or psychological it did help. We hit all the CPs spot on to complete the section in 2hrs. We checked in at the base of the canyoneering and had about 30mins to wait before we could start heading upwards.

The canyon was a section that I was looking really forward to doing and I am certain that we went up the part we went down last year. You have to clip in alot of the way, using a cow-tail to clip in one rope after the next.

Up, up, up! We were sweating like crazy and drinking plenty it is hard work going so steeply up and using both legs and upper body to haul yourself up the ropes. The small bottle necks were actually great and I used the few minutes to take photos. Weird weather too - overcast but still quite warm. We reached the top with about 15mins before the race restarted on bikes.

I loaded up with water and minutes later we were riding fast down the mountain along the winding switchbacks. The front was lead by a police car, which was fortunate because without it there would definitely have been accidents.

From the bottom of the mountain we rode as a east peleton into Al Ain.

I think the ride took an hour - flat out all the way. And we stuck with the main bunch. We stopped at the Al Ain oasis and had about 30mins - maybe more - to change pedals and get the bikes back to the way we received them. The final section was a 4km run through the oasis and into town to finish at the fort.

With time ticking we were on to buses for a ride back to Abu Dhabi. We couldn't wait to get to the hotel and into showers. The showers here are really good. It took three shampoos to get my hair de-sanded and de-salted! With the guys looking all cleaned up we headed to the prize giving ceremony and another superb meal. Awesome food on this race.

We have got some fabulous photos and lots more to say. We fly home tonight. I have been blogging on Alex's phone, so that explains the predictive text word errors. I will type on the plane and prep some photos and captions to put online when we get back Friday morning. We have had the most amazing time here - racing, outdoors, competitive and comraderie.

We have been so well looked after by this event - again - and we come home with great memories and new friends.

Till tomorrow. Lisa