Challenge goes from strength to strength

Media Release: The record number of teams registered for the 2010 Abu Dhabi Adventure Challenge confirms the international status and unique appeal of the world’s premier event.

Since its inception in 2007, the Abu Dhabi Adventure Challenge has built on previous accomplishments, bringing ever-increasing numbers to its ranks further cementing its position as the world’s premier adventure race. 2010 has not only confirmed this trend but also surpassed all expectations, as teams hailing from around the globe have hurried to sign on for what has become - among the adventure racing community - the most significant race on the international circuit.

Of the 48 teams certain of a place on the starting line in Abu Dhabi City, 16 have already competed in the Challenge. Some of these top-flight contenders have undergone subtle changes in the hope of adding the world’s most coveted AR prize to their list of credentials while others are returning hoping their previous experiences could give them the competitive edge.

The most successful combination to date, New Zealand’s Richard and Elina Ussher, whose teams have won the event every year, are certain to make their new-look ‘Thule Adventure Team’ a four-time favourite but, as in the past, they will be up against some serious opposition.

Marc Balaskovic heads up the French presence with Vibram Lafuma, who are aiming for another crack at the top three, while Marc Pschebizin has joined forces with Swiss team Wenger. Expectations are understandably high for Coming Soon, an enigmatic amalgamation of nationalities featuring France’s Myriam Guillot, Jacky Boisset and Kiwis Jacob Roberts and Marcel Hagener - three of whom have never finished outside the event’s top five.

Spain’s Salomon Santiveri has lured the multitalented Monica Aguilera back into the squad while local heroes, Al Moughamiroun, with Eric Jeanne at the helm, will draw on their past experience in a bid for glory. Back again is Germany’s Abu Dhabi Triathlon Team, led by ace triathletes, Faris Al-Sultan and Werner Leitner, while a handful of Russian teams can look to Artem Rostovtsev and Chasing Daylight to lead the way.

The overall figures are impressive, 48 teams representing at least 20 different nations with two thirds of them coming to the Challenge for the first time. This is further proof of the event’s established international profile and enduring importance. Some countries with strong adventure racing roots, like USA, Sweden, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Poland, all have three teams in this wide-ranging field while UK and France are upping the ante with four teams each.

Inspired by the excellent performance of the Dragons last year, China is sending two teams. By far the most impressive contingent is from the UAE, with no fewer than eight teams eager to measure themselves against all comers on what is essentially home territory. Turkey, Spain, Denmark, Germany, Switzerland, Canada, Norway and Italy complete the list.

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

Swazi X vs ADAC

I asked Christiaan Greyling (Team AR for ADAC 2008) to compare his memories of the pace and intensity of ADAC 2008 to his experiences at the recent 3-day Swazi Xtreme, which each of the new team members also raced. Chris' comments are below:

How would the Abu Dhabi Adventure challenge (ADAC) compare to the Swazi extreme? The best way to explain this will be to break it up in smaller chunks/stages and disciplines.

There is a time in every multi-day race when your physical ability reaches the limit and you are only pushed forward by your mental ability. This is when the well-known questions fly through your head like screensavers: “Why am I doing this?”, “Is this even possible?” and “This is insane!”.

Let's start off with my most unforgettable stage at ADAC – a 87km, 10.5 hour of sea kayaking the Arabian Gulf! Maybe the fact that I did not paddle more than 12km at a time before the race made this the hardest stage in my racing career. This stage was on day three of the 2008 ADAC following a 14km and a 30km paddle on the two days prior (prologue on Day 1 and first part of the paddle stage on Day 2).

After day two (50km Mtb & 30km paddle) it felt like my shoulders were lying beside me on the island sand where we camped the night. It took me an hour of sleep, a team picnic in the tent and lots of food before I felt like I will be able to complete three times that distance the following day.

The best part of an AR is when you wake-up the following morning to a sunrise on an island to see 80 kayaks lined up on the beach, ready to break the still water. To my surprise the pain was gone, but I soon realised that I would I have to battle with my own worst enemy – my mind.

How do you keep on paddling for ten and a half hours without seeing land to measure your progress? Left, right, left, right and so it went on… And I did the maths - we used more than 28 000 strokes to get us to the finish line! It seems like my team mates were fine with this fact. I was used to progress on foot or on a mtb, so “this was totally insane” kept appearing in my mind. What can be compared to this monster paddle stage?

Probably, my longest non-stop stage in AR was the last MTB stage in the Swazi Xtreme, which we started just before sunset and finished just before sunrise – a 12 hour 87km MTB, or, as all competitors would say later, it was a hike-a-bike rather than a MTB stage. It is difficult to compare apples with onions, but if you were a non-biker attempting this last stage of Swazi you may have a feeling of what to expect in Abu Dhabi. Funny enough, I enjoyed this stage because of my mtb experience and the previous night’s sleep. So the moral of the story is – be prepared!

Beside the intensity of the stages in Abu Dhabi, I think it depend on your previous experience in each discipline. The fact that you sleep each night makes it much easier to compete the next day for 12 hours or more. The MTB in 2008 was no major challenge, but I know the introduction of a full day of mountain biking and a big sand storm changed the picture in 2009. The hiking leg was long and an even longer one can be expected, but I am sure with Swazi Experience the new Team http://www.ar.co.za/ will be able to cross that bridge.

Being out in the desert with only your team in the middle of a moonlight night is definitely the most unforgettable experience. This race was a highlight in my AR career. It created great opportunities and gave me a solid benchmark in life towards what I aim to to accomplish with the power of our Creator.

Go out, seize the opportunities in life, make the best of it and when the going gets tough, the tough race even harder.

Team AR not alone in the desert

This year, Team www.AR.co.za is one of three South African teams taking part in the 4th edition of the annual Abu Dhabi Adventure Challenge (ADAC). The other two are Team Cyanosis and Hard Day's Night.


Team Cyanosis' members include: Nicholas Mulder, Clinton Mackintosh and Ryno Griesel. Their female team member is still to be confirmed.

Hard Day's Night is Alex Pope (he raced in Team www.AR.co.za in Dec 2009 at ADAC), Jane Swarbreck, Tim Deane and Alan Neate.

There's going to be a great Souff Afrikan vibe in the Emirates!

Team www.AR.co.za selected for ADAC2010

In June, six adventure racers – four women and two men - were selected from written applications for the Team www.AR.co.za squad. Over a period of two-and-a-half months, these Gauteng-based squad members have attended paddle coaching sessions, training on dams twice a week through the dead of winter to improve their technique and proficiency. They’ve practised their rope skills and they have participated in sprint and one-day adventure racing events including the recent non-stop, multi-day adventure race Swazi Xtreme. Now, with just over three months until the start of the 4th edition of the annual Abu Dhabi Adventure Challenge (ADAC) in December 2010, the members for Team www.AR.co.za have been selected.

The process of selection for the three places on Team www.AR.co.za began with the submission of written applications from which six squad members were recruited. After three months of training and racing the three racers to make up the mixed-gender, four-person team captained by experienced adventure racer, Lisa de Speville, were chosen. “In previous years, my ADAC teams were chosen from written applications. This year, because I received notice of our entry, which is sponsored by Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority, earlier, I was able to change the selection process,” de Speville says.

“Managing and choosing from a squad has been more difficult for me because I have gotten to know and train with these talented, competent and compatible racers; all super people with common racing objectives,” she adds. “We ‘lost’ Ilze Jansen van Rensburg in early July after an emergency eye operation put a halt on her training and racing for weeks.”

The choosing of only three from the five squad members - Adri van der Westhuyzen, Keane Ludig, Lizelle Smit, Lizelle van der Merwe and Steven Erasmus - has weighed heavily on de Speville’s mind. “I’ve played over and over with all kinds of combinations and they would all work well. But, I had to settle on just three. In making my final selection I’ve looked at age, experience, ambitions as well as opportunities that they currently have or could have as a result of being part of the squad and team.”

The selected team members are Adri van der Westhuyzen, Lizelle Smit and Steven Erasmus. Keane Ludick and Lizelle van der Merwe are the team’s reserves, ready to jump in should they be needed. “In previous years we’ve had stress fractures, injuries, illnesses and lost passports crop up weeks and days before departure. The role of a reserve is not an easy one, especially when you really want to go to Abu Dhabi. Keane and Lizelle’s ongoing commitment to training and the team is really special and reassuring,” explains de Speville. They will all continue to paddle together and work on skills and disciplines needed for the six-day semi-staged race in Abu Dhabi.

Although the most common team composition is three men and one woman, Team www.AR.co.za has flipped things around with their female-weighted team, which will be a first at the Abu Dhabi Adventure Challenge. Erasmus is the only man in the team. “The women that have been chosen are great people and they are all really strong. It is going to be different to the standard team format but I'm also sure that it's going to be fun too. Women bring a special balance to teams,” he says.

With three months until race day, the team is looking ahead as they focus specifically on paddling and running.

Contact

Lisa de Speville, 082 936-2509

lisa@ar.co.za , www.ar.co.za


About www.AR.co.za

www.AR.co.za is South Africa’s adventure racing website. Event calendar, news, race reports, articles... www.AR.co.za is about everything adventure racing. The website was started in April 2001 by adventure racer Lisa de Speville. She continues to maintain and edit this website.

About Abu Dhabi Adventure Challenge

This six-day semi-staged adventure race is held every December in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. The event attracts top teams from around the World, with participants from almost 30 countries. Disciplines included are sea kayaking, desert trekking, canyoneering and mountain biking. South Africa is one of five countries to receive an entry (incl. flights) from the Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority as part of their generous Awards programme. http://www.abudhabi-adventure.com/

Keane's views on Swazi

Keane raced Swazi PRO with Team Numa Optics. They had many challenges to work through, coming out of the race with new friendships.

I had the great opportunity to race with Team Numa Optics. My team mates, Sam,Waldus and Karel were awesome partners. We entered the starting line without ever racing together or really knowing each other. But we got along very well from the day we met each other, two weeks prior to the Swazi.


I started off the race in high spirits and excitement knowing that I'm about to tackle one of the most rewarding AR races. Our first leg started off well and we got into transition within our planne time. The following bike leg carried on much longer than expected. We went for all the optionals not knowing what would lie ahead. We missed one OP and spent two hours looking for it. Finally got it and moved.

Seven hours into the race, Karel started to have some serious issues with his knees, which slowed us down to walking speed. He wanted to stand back and forfeit the race. We encouraged him to carry on,which he did but only for another hour when he really started to battle. The final decision was made by the team and Karel unfortunately opted out of the 2010 Swazi X Pro on day one.

We managed to carry on pretty strong from there. Going through the various legs staying focused on our goal and kept on pushing through all the challenges.

On the second paddle leg I suffered a serious injury. We were approaching a rapid when we over steered the canoe and capsized it. In this process my left hand got stuck to the canoe and pulled my shoulder out of joint. I ended up drifting downstream for about 50m when my teammates pulled me out. I went into shock and the guys covered me with a space blanket to try and keep me warm. After about five minutes the helicopter landed right next to us and airlifted me out to the transition area. My shoulder got "popped" back into place and I took a 60 min nap.

When I woke up I was determined to carry on and finish the race. We missed the last two legs on Day Two and started off on sunday for the final two legs. We decided that it would be fine for me to carry on but to rather skip the rope work section to prevent any further injury to my shoulder.

We were looking forward to the final leg and I was excited to carry on with the race. We managed to cover 40 km of the last leg when Waldus started to suffer from ITB. At this point Sam informed me that we should stop and give our seconds a call to come and pick us up.

This meant that we have reached the end of our race. It was a difficult decision to make and one I hopefully would never have to make again. It was a sad moment for the three of us, coming so close but yet so far.

All in one nutshell:

• We had some serious set backs in the race,with Karel's injury to my shoulder to Waldus' ITB.
• We formed a strong bond early in the race, which was important to us knowing that we hardly knew each other.
• My personal highlight of the race was when I got numerous opportunities to navigate.
• It turned out to be an extraordinary learning curve. One I will never forget. My list of lessons learned is endless.
• It was a rough and tough race, exactly what I expected.
• I had a great time with a bunch of great guys.

Thanks again guys for an unforgettable experience.

Keane Ludick

Swazi (E)xperiences (Lizelle v/d M.)

Lizelle v/d Merwe took part in Swazi Xtreme in a novice team guided by experienced racer Stephan Muller. With 10 years of adventure racing behind him, there was no better person to lead Team Kinetic to victory. This is Lizelle's experience:

Xtreme is one word that summarises the whole event for me. Each leg was long, each leg was a battle, each leg was tough, each leg was wishing for transition, each leg was grace from above and each and every transition AMAZING. On the bike legs I wished for a hike, on the hiking legs I wished for a bike, on the paddling legs I just wanted to get out of the water and wished for transition. Against all this, I can definitely recall a smile, adrenaline and giggles on each and every leg.


I am still trying to make sense of all the legs, the flow of the race and when what happened. As a novice racer in the Swazi Xtreme race, I had no idea what to expect. Luckily for us, we had the most experienced AR racer in our team as navigator and knew from the start that we would be in good hands. I expected the worst as I could recall horror stories told by past Swazi Xtreme racers.

From the beginning we could feel and see that Xtreme is definitely the word that would summarise this event. Bike & hike distances were a mindset change for me as kilometres started to become irrelevant as every leg started to become a survival to get to the next transition. Every transition was a uplift for our team, as we had the best seconds in the whole wide world, thanks Heidi, Shauni and Oom Louis. Together with long distances, I had to fight the sleep monster on the third night. Falling asleep on my bike, was no pleasant experience, but definitely a wake-up call!

You only realise in what state you are when you look at your teammates, look in their faces and realise the funny things they are doing and saying. The words: “If you think you can’t go further, then you are only halfway” became such a reality for me during this race!

Highlights for me would definitely be the little pool of water we found on top of the mountain during a midday 'kloofing leg' in extremely hot weather. Stephan and I wet our clothes in the pool after almost dehydrating and felt so much better after this. Another thing was the school children gathered around us and looking at us as if we were aliens from another planet. Luckily the children were full of energy and pushed me up the hill with lots of giggles and enthusiasm. Then a swinging scary bridge was a good way to keep the adrenaline pumping on a 93km bike leg.

The rest of the race is a bit of a blur as I cannot recall what came after what. BUT who can forget the last leg, pushing bikes down a mountain and then on the other side up in an area where you wish you never find yourself again!!!

However, our team kept the 'fort' and slowly but surely we were putting the kilometres in the bag, and still waiting for the last, quick and easy 30km we were promised to the finish line. However a warm welcome and celebration was waiting at the finish line, as we were the first official team to arrive. AWESOME AWESOME AWESOME it felt to be at the end!! Although I only realised the WIN a little bit later.

And now, how do you explain to people what you went through? How can you ever look at life the same? How do you expect people to understand this? It has been a life experience and character building, which you can only share with teammates and people who went through the same suffering!!!!!!

Thanks for everyone involved in making this event my most memorable event ever. Thanks for all the hard work and time that went into the organising of such a big event. Thousands of thanks to the best teammates ever, thanks for pushing, dragging, carrying and helping me! Thanks Stephan for spot-on navigation and not making me go more miles. Thanks to Danie, wow where do you get your strength from! Thanks to my husband, who made sure I was fine the whole time and who prayed for us the whole time. To our seconds, never could we have done this without you guys, you knew exactly what we needed when. Thanks for making transitions quick and AWESOME. Thanks for serving us the way you guys did!

Lizelle van der Merwe, Team Kinetic

Scouting for a venue and organising your own adventure race

Adri's team, Lickety Split, are organising an adventure race later this year. They have put in a lot of time and preparation scouting and planning this event. Adri tells of her experiences and learnings and her forway into navigation.

I joined Team Lickety Split in April 2009, not really knowing anything about the sport other than you get to see our country at its beautiful best. My more 'mature' team members slowly introduced me to terminology such as "transition", "legs", "checkpoints", "optional points", "breakfast stop", "elevensies" and a whole lot more on the joys of life outside the city.

Navigation/map reading was always something left for our 2 very capable navigators in the team. But I am curious by nature, and like to know whats happening, so I signed up for one of Lisa's navigational courses on a July week night from 18h30 - 21h30.

For almost a year Team Lickety Split shared their 'call' to organise their own race. And it wasn't till January this year that one of the team members visited a calm and un-raced territory and claimed it as our race area for the event we call: Balele Tracks.

How do you scout for an area to organise a race??? I'd say it's more a question of how to connect-the-dots and curiosity about the area that urges you to organise a race. You find a good start/ finishing spot and then start networking with local farmers and the tourism board, who are generally very keen to help promote the area and assist in the organising of the event.

So, with most things in place and maps organised, we set out to 'do' our own race on the 17th & 18th July. This was a 'fool-proof test', with me as the novice navigator.

And wow, what a joy. I really enjoyed it. Picking routes, reading the topographical details and comparing it to what I see around me. Working out the average time spent on foot per kilometer (bikes are easier with spedo's. And pedo's... I havent tried yet). Explaining to my team what I plan on doing next and where we are heading. As much as I like to know where we are, I now had to keep the team in-the-loop too. Communication is so important in this sport to make sure everyone is on the same page and that they have the same goal in mind.

So yes, I broke the ice with regards to navigation and can only encourage others to take the bull by the horns and deal with it once & for all!

Your racing will be a whole lot different, your Sunday afternoon stroll in the local park will be different. You'll see the (mostly) logic behind the roads in and around our country and how these roads largely follow topographical lines, etc.

Here's to navigation and organising your own race!

       Adri van der Westhuyzen