Media release: 2009 Abu Dhabi Adventure Challenge announced

This year’s Abu Dhabi Adventure Challenge will be held from the 4th to the 9th of December. The innovative nature of this demanding sporting and cultural odyssey, with its unique emphasis on fairness, accessibility and camaraderie, represents adventure racing’s most exciting opportunity to race against the world’s most international field.

In keeping with the last two years, when early December was chosen as the ideal period for adventure racing’s Blue Ribbon finale, the 2009 Abu Dhabi Adventure Challenge will be held from the 4th to the 9th of December. What’s more, to ensure that the race offers a sporting challenge rather than an economic one, especially given the current economic climate, the organisers have made a €1,000 reduction to the 2009 entrance fee, bringing it to €2,500 per team and opening the world’s most international race to the entire adventure racing community.

In total contrast to many other headline-grabbing races held around the globe, the ADAC is designed to not only appeal to the world’s top teams but also to those with the ambition of becoming one themselves but who, as yet, might lack sufficient international or big race experience. Last year, the highly successful ADTA awards took a selection of fortunate ‘local’ teams from Britain, Sweden, Slovenia the USA and South Africa, all with no international race experience, handed them entry fees, plane tickets and the opportunity to rub shoulder with and learn from the world’s best. The ADTA Continental Rookie Prizes (2,500 USD) handed out cash prizes to the four top teams, one from each of the following four continental zones, Europe, North - South America, Asia - Oceania and The Middle East – Africa, racing for the first time in The Abu Dhabi Adventure Challenge. Both initiatives, aimed at promoting the sport throughout the burgeoning international rookie community, will be maintained for this year’s race.

After 6 days over a course worthy of the world’s most international field and matched only by the quality of the encounters with Abu Dhabi’s vibrant culture, a lucky few will take with them the “glittering prizes” but thanks to a judiciously planned course and flexible support infrastructure, every team is given the chance to finish the race one way or another. Only in this way are all teams able to complete what is, after all, the objective of any sporting event: to participate and be enriched by the competition, rivalry and ensuing camaraderie. To learn from the experience, come back again and maybe win.

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

New Team www.AR.co.za to ADAC '09

I am delighted to announce that www.AR.co.za has been invited to send another team to the 3rd edition of the Abu Dhabi Adventure Challenge, held 4-9 December 2009. I will again select three team members from our South African adventure racing community to join me on this awesome adventure.

This invitation, which includes the entry fee and four return tickets to Abu Dhabi, is made possible by Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority's Awards scheme. ADTA aims to make it possible for ambitious racers, who have never raced overseas before, to pursue their racing career internationally.

To apply for a position on Team www.AR.co.za, please complete this ENTRY FORM (Word doc) and return it to me by noon on Monday, 1 June 2009. You can email your completed form to lisa@ar.co.za

Note: right-click on the Entry form link and select 'Save Target As...". Blogger has a weird glitch with these things. Alternatively refresh the page that loads in your browser. And, if all else fails, the direct link for the form is www.ar.co.za/abudhabi09.doc

Please note the following:

• Our entry fee and flights are covered by the event
• You will be required to pay for the following: team clothing, equipment you will need (we will borrow where possible), race food (snacks & two meals), accommodation for a night before and after the race (this is the major expense), food before and after the race. This will cost R6000-R8000 (see my posting on Race Costs from ADAC 2008)
• Other pre-race expenses may include paddle coaching, entry and bits to participate in two local pre-ADAC events, travel to Joburg (if you live outside of Joburg; twice prior to ADAC) for the team to be together.

In terms of what I'm looking for in my team mates:

• Although the standard team composition is 3 guys and 1 girl, I raced as 2-2 last year and loved it. I am keen to race in the same format so that another female racer has this opportunity to race overseas. Girls, please apply; you will be considered even though I fulfill the mandatory female quota.
• I don't mind if you don't have a lot of experience, but you must have completed at least one event of 24hrs. I'd prefer this race to be in adventure racing, but if you've done ultradistance running, biking or paddling, these count a lot too.
• You must be self-motivated in that you have and are prepared to put work into organising and leading your own teams. While this race is fun, it is not a holiday. This is an exceptional opportunity that will give you that next step in your adventure racing experience. Ideally you should have ambitions of forming your own team for international participation in the next few years.
• This is not your adventure racing swan-song, but the springboard to many more years of racing; each with increasing competitiveness.
• You don't have to be a navigator, but you must have an interest in navigation and willingness to learn. You won't be expected to navigate at ADAC, but it is a skill that you'll carry into the teams you create in the future.
• I expect you to train on your own, putting in effort on improving your skills across all disciplines from when the team is announced until we leave. You will need to complete a training log, but I'm not going to watch over you nor crack whips. I just expect you to keep up your side of the deal.
• If you haven't got much paddling experience, this is not a barrier to your eligibility. I will expect you to be paddling 2-3 times a week from September until we depart. And all team members will attend 2-4 paddle coaching sessions to improve efficiency and technique. Paddling is a BIG portion of this race.
• We may have inline skating (to be confirmed).
• If you have ambitions of winning this race, then this team is not for you. We will go out there and give it our best. Where we place is were we place. As I was there last year, I do hope that we'll improve our previous result.

From my side, I'm taking a chance on you. I'm passing on this opportunity to race overseas, with most of your expenses covered. Team www.AR.co.za is different to any other in that the members have not necessarily ever raced together and they may not have much experience and we may only be all together twice before the race. And you surely know how difficult it is to race with people you know in a one-day race - nevermind racing overseas in a 6-day race with comparative strangers. All I expect from you is your commitment to training and the team and that you'll go into this adventure with an open heart and open mind and give your best.

If you're still keen after reading all of this, please download the entry form, fill it in and send to me. I plan to announce the team by the end of June 2009 so that we can get preparations underway early.

Lisa

ADAC Media Release: Entry fee lowered

In case you don't make it into Team www.AR.co.za, consider entering your own team...

MEDIA RELEASE

Excellent news from the organisers of the Abu Dhabi Adventure Challenge as they make a massive reduction to the 2009 entrance fee, ensuring access to all teams across the international adventure racing community.

An adventure race of this importance requires serious funds, preparation and logistics but, more than any of these, it requires you. Without the athletes, there is no race, and to ensure that no team is excluded from competing in this remarkable challenge, the organisers of the Abu Dhabi Adventure Challenge have decided to restructure some of the administrative aspects of the competition in order to reduce costs. This means that the Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority are delighted to lower the registration fee by €1,000, bringing the entrance fee for this year’s ADAC down to €2,500 per team and opening the world’s most international race to the entire adventure racing community.

Online registration is now open and you can put your names down right away for what promises to be another spectacular event, cleverly designed by our team of experts to expose you to the natural and cultural wonders of Abu Dhabi, a tough contest and some heart- warming hospitality. So go to the website - www.abudhabi-adventure.com - and sign up – we wouldn’t want you to miss it…

Team www.AR.co.za in GoMulti Magazine

The new March/April issue of GoMulti Magazine is on the shelves and Team www.AR.co.za features in the Photo competition and MultiPeople sections. Thanks for your support GoMulti.

Race costs

I've done a basic summary of our race expenses so that we can see how much this race cost us to do; and roughly how much it would cost you to do it in 2010.

Clothing
We just went for tops (2 x short sleeve, 2 x long sleeve and 2 x light fleece pullovers) as bottoms are a lot more personal preference and everyone has black shorts/tights. Race conditions are warm, so we didn't need to go crazy on clothing. That helped. Total was R950pp (girls got off at around R900 because our short sleeve tops cost less). We were very fortunate to receive our clothing from First Ascent at wholesale prices.

Additional gear
We all needed toget Petzl Shunts. Three of us needed mountaineering helmets. All needed leather gloves for the rope sections. Three of us got bigger hydration reservoirs (3l). We all needed waterproof matches and bigger space blankets. I needed a bigger knife to conform to race specifications. Chris got a trekking pole. We all needed double lanyards. Three needed travel towels and additional drybags. On average, for the main stuff we all needed, it probably amounted to anything between R2000 - R3000 per person. We got our gear through Petzl and Ram Mountaineering at wholesale prices.

The compulsory gear lists are pretty minimal - how much you need to get will depend on how much you have already.

Three of us also attended 3 x paddle coaching sessions. Total of R450 each.

Another expense was goods for the first aid kit. They gave us quite a list and we had to have double of most things. I don't know what we spent here. We didn't use any of it.

Food
My race food cost me about R650.00. I spent more though because I still have leftovers, which I didn't pack. I'll use this for other races. Bars and gels up your expenses quickly.
Before the race we got rolls, chicken, tomatoes, cheese for lunches (spent about R500 in total). We ate three meals at restaurants - around R140pp each time per person.
So, we're looking at around R1250.00 per person for food (race food and pre- and post-race).

Hotels
Accommodation in Abu Dhabi is VERY expensive. We arrived on the Tuesday morning; so that night was for our own expense (the race accommodated us from the Wednesday). This cost us just over R1300pp sharing, excl. breakfast. The race accommodated us after the finish on the Wednesday night (at the Hilton in Al Ain!). We were only flying on the Friday at noon so the Thursday was for our own expense. The cheapest hotel we could find cost us around R930pp sharing, incl. breakfast. So, this was almost R2300.00 each just on two nights accommodation.

Transport
Public transport infrastructure is good; but travelling is difficult with three big and heavy race crates and four people. Buses only take you to the bus/taxi depots. We learned how to find cheaper rides but they are not always convenient. We spent around R1500 in total on buses and taxis to and from airports, hotels and also our trip to Dubai (which was the cheapest!).

Summary (per person)
Transport - R375.00
Hotels - R2,300.00
Food - R1,250.00
Clothing (tops) - R950.00
Additional gear - R2,500.00
Paddle coaching - R450.00
TOTAL - R7,825,00 per person

Entry and flights were covered by Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority as part of their Awards programme. We were one of 5 teams to receive this. If we'd had to pay the costs would have been:

Race Entry (3500 EURO): R48,000.00
Flights (Joburg - Abu Dhabi on Etihad): R6,000.00pp (R24,000.00 for team)

So, if we included race entry (R12,000.00 each) plus flights (R6,000 each) = R18,000.00 each.

So, the overall total then would come to almost R26,000.00 per person. And, as the race provides boats and bikes you won't get hit with extra luggage costs, which is R200/kg; we came in under our luggage allowance!

Comparatively this is brilliant for a 6-day, mostly catered (5-Star catering too!), international adventure race. And, this is a race I can 100% recommend whether you're a competitive or social team. This race is not a slog-fest and it is very doable, even by inexperienced teams; it has a touch of luxury. Awesome experience and event.

What to eat during the race?

Food lists became an interest to me when I started doing self-sufficient staged ultra marathons. You have to carry all your food and clothing and equipment for the 5 or 7 days from start to finish. So, weight becomes important. The race regulations specify that you have to pack at least 2000kcal/day. Although you won't die, I find that I feel hungry on Day 3.

Abu Dhabi Adventure Challenge was a bit different in that catered dinner and breakfast was provided by race organisation on the 1st, 3rd, 5th nights - and after the finish. We then had to provide snacks and munchies for all the days and dinner for nights 2 and 4 (breakfast for the mornings too). We ate a lot this trip.

I've got a spreadsheet, which I've added to over the years. It contains lists of foods I like for races (and that don't need to be cooked) as well as portion weight; protein, carb and fat content; and calorie contribution.

This time around I put together my food packets and then, out of interest, I added them to my spreadsheet, which I've pasted below. I ate almost everything except a few protein bars, gels and Rehidrates. My worst thing was the USN Hi-Energy bar (unpalatable chocolate cement) and my winning food was the Jungle B'fast cereal with a dash of Cape Creamy soy milk powder. Add 200ml water to the ziploc bag, shake, bite a hole in the corner and suck. Yummy! (Banana and honey flavour cereal).

Click to open the table of foods.

Garth's race food delights included packets of crisps, especially things like Big Corn Bites, Fritos and Niknaks. Lauren had quite a lots of peanuts and raisins mixed with other nuts and corn nuts. I'm quite partial to corn nuts too - great crunchy texture.

Of interest, Tweet said they took 7-8kg of food per person for EcoMotion. Remember that they would have been providing food for themselves 24hr/day, whereas we had a number of meals provided.

Our race photos

A collection of photos from the race are available on Flickr. The photos won't be online indefinitely, but they'll be there at least for the next few months.

If you click through each of the images, you'll get the captions too. If you put them on slideshow view you'll see the photos without the captions.

We'll be doing a show-and-tell evening at Adventure Racing Club in Joburg next year, probably in February.