Team OrionHealth Adventure

Sprinting for the end of the kayak stage!

Group hug - happy team at the kayak finish!

Stu showing the effects of 7 hours in a kayak!

The podium places at the Abu Dhabi Challenge remain firmly in the hands of the Kiwi teams on Day 4 of racing. Qasr Al Sarab (Richard & Elina Usher, Marcel Hagnar, Nathan Fa-avae), ADCO NZ (Stu Lynch, Fleur Pawsey, Nathan Peterson and Gordon Blythen) and Vibram Sport2000 (Dwane Farley) have been travelling together for the entire desert trek so far, with teams approximately 3/4 of the way through the leg.

From previous editions of the race, the desert leg has proven difficult for the leaders to get a break - in the open sandy terrain it is hard to 'sneak away' on a different route choice, and the team in front is 'breaking ground' in the untracked sand for the teams behind to follow.

(L-R) Stuart Lynch, Nathan Peterson and Fluer Pawsey from ADCO NZ, bounding down a dune!

The leading teams all look to have taken several hours of their compulsary 8 hours of 'stop time' during this leg at CP4 during the early afternoon after some 5 hours on the feet - media reports teams arriving and making a beeline for the shade cast by the media 4WD jeeps. This fits with Stu's reported stopping plan, which was to use some of the rest time during the hot part of the day, and to take a longer stop later in the leg (probably at CP6) and get some sleep in before pushing on through the rest of the leg. With only minutes seperating some of the top placings however, these teams will all be looking at each other sideways to make sure they are staying in touch with the competition!

(L-R) Gordon Blythen, Fluer Pawsey, Nathan Peterson and Stu Lynch from team ADCO NZ sprinting for the finish of the kayak stage!

Teams have just finished the second day of kayaking on the Arabian Gulf, after a remote overnight camp out on a sandy island. Kiwi's are filling the podium currently, with Qasr Al Sareb (Richard and Elina Usher, Marcel Hagnar, Nathan Fa'avae) in first, ADCO NZ (Stu, Fleur Pawsey, Gordon Blythen and Nathan Peterson) and Vibram Sport 2000 with Kiwi Dwarne Farley.

After the fast and furious prologue - 'adventure triathlon' - around downtown Abu Dhabi teams took off for several hours of paddling. The Kiwi teams were quick to show their prowess on the water, with Richard Usher's Qasr Al Sareb taking the lead, with Stu and team ADCO NZ on their tail. By the end of the first section of the paddle Qasr and ADCO had put a bit of a break on the rest of the field, and could relax in camp watching the other teams come in.

Stu commented at the end of Day 1 "Triathlong was pretty good - we were a bit slow on the swim relative to some of the other teams, but made up for that by being faster on the biking and running sections. The kayak went really well,with some great paddling conditions in the Gulf - we even got a gap on Vibram Sport2000 (3rd place) when they fell out of their kayaks in the surf! We are watching the others teams come in now while we set up camp. Planning an early night tonight, as we will have to get up very early in the morning to srt out a few things before the start at 6:30am. Things look a bit tricky tomorrow with lots of channels and potential tidal flows to deal with"

Day Two saw and early start, with teams on the water just after dawn from 630am. With low tide at 830am, much will have rested on teams judging well where the deepest and best water flow was. It seems to have suited our Kiwi teams, with both Qasr and ADCO extending their leads over the chasing teams. Qasr are now 25 minutes up over ADCO, who are a further 15 minutes up on the French Vibram Sport2000 in 3rd.

Stu's comments on Day 2: "Good paddle today, shorter than expected, would have suited us if longer but we were still glad to finish.Four minutes back on Qasr today, 15 minutes in front of the french."

Teams are now on buses being taken deep into the desert, where they will enjoy a luxurious bivouac put on byt he organisers, with traditional Beudoin tents and local food. Tomorrow they head into the sand dunes for two days and 110km of desert treakking. Teams have to take 8 hours of stop time at two checkpoints during this trek, so it will be interesting to see how teams choose to split this rest time (i.e. daytime vs night time), and where they choose to take it.

Looks like all is going well for the Kiwi teams midway through the prologue - Richard Usher's team were first through the 'adventure triathlon' section in downtown Abu Dhabi, with the strong French La Fuma team in hot pursuit 3 mins back. Stu and his team are 8 minutes down in a big bunch of teams, all within touch of the leaders.

Teams have now just begun the 80km sea kayak stage, which will see them bivvy on an island tonight before resuming the paddle in the morning. Expect to see things bounce around a bit on the tracking, as each tracker updates at a slightly different time, so when teams are this close together its hard to tell who is where exactly. 

I am looking forward to an exciting day at 'work' with the tracker on in the background!

Just heard from Stu, he and the rest of the team have spent the day enduring the gear and medical checks, and checking out the maps for the first two days (prologue and kayak). Stu commented that there was less kayaking than there has been in previous years, which will no doubt please many teams for whom kayaking is something to be endured! For our guys though, kayaking is one of their real strengths, so they will be out to make the most of it.

The teams all enjoyed a wonderful dinner - one of the highlights of the race has always been the amazing food that gets put on by the organizers. They should enjoy it while they can though - tomorrow night they will be camped out on a bare sandy island in the Arabian Gulf eating a cold freeze dried meal out of a packet!

When I asked about the navigation in the race, Stu commented that there is a little bit of tricky nav in the dark on the morning of the last day (this must be the "night orienteering" stage), otherwise should be fairly straightforward as in previous years. Both naviagtion and route choice can still be tricky in the desert and ocean though, with a network of narrow tidal channels between the myriad of artificial islands in the Gulf, and row upon row of sandy dune where you must choose wisely where you cross and walk for the fastest route.

The team will be off to get their last nights full sleep (in a plush 5 star hotel bed no less!) for some time, then it will be up early in the morning getting ready for the 8am start (5pm Friday NZ time). The prologue starts with an urban triathlon with running, biking and swimming near the central city, then teams will be off in their kayaks for the rest of the day.