Media release: A long day on the mountain

Al Ain – Since this morning at 06:30, the teams have battled with the sheer slopes and rugged terrain of the Jebel Hafeet.


About 30 minutes before sunrise, the teams took the start from the bivouac in the Jebel Valley for a long, sweltering day of activities up, across and around the precarious slopes of the Jebel Hafeet peak. After an initial 5.5 km adventure run to pick up their bikes they rode 13,7 km along the tightly twisting road to the car park at the summit. As expected, the leaders maintained their brisk pace, established over the first 2 days of relatively short format sections where any lost time can be disastrous. THULE ADVENTURE TEAM (NZL), WENGER (SUI) and THULE ADVENTURE EUROPE (FRA) were the only three teams to finish this gruelling ascension in under an hour.

The second day‘s racing was completed with a trek along a ridge to a rope works, made all the more difficult in the blistering heat. Two stunning rappels of around 50m each, one from an overhanging cliff, and a via cordata canyon climb, amplified the truly breathtaking qualities of this jagged peak. The scratched limbs and torn equipment of the athletes bore ample witness to the difficulty of the task. Following closely behind leaders THULE ADVENTURE TEAM (NZL) and THULE ADVENTURE EUROPE (FRA), Suisse team WENGER, TEAM NET COMPETENCE (SWE), SALOMON SANTIVERI (ESP), ADIDAS TERREX (GB), GUATS (CAN) and VIBRAM LAFUMA 1 (FRA) are all in contention for top 5 spots. "It was really important to manage this day well given the enormous challenges to come tomorrow," opined Anthony RABEAU as he and the other athletes climbed aboard the buses for the transfer to Um as Zummul. Tomorrow morning at 04:00, the teams will begin their struggle with the sands on a 94 km MTB section.

Provisional Overall Ranking end Day 2:

1 THULE ADVENTURE TEAM (NZL) 9h25:50

2 THULE ADVENTURE EUROPE (FRA) 9h49:49

3 WENGER (SUI) 9h52:59

4 TEAM NET COMPETENCE (SWE) 10h04:28

5 SALOMON SANTIVERI (ESP) 10h28:12

Live race coverage and information at http://www.abudhabi-adventure.com/