Secret Training :-)

While the others were sweating it out in the hot sands of the Abu Dhabi deserts, Josh and I were doing some secret training in the Dandenongs with the Tuesday Night Ride and Pizza Crew. Conditions were a little slippery but we managed to keep the thing upright despite a few nervous moments. Here are a few photos of the evening .....

OUT OF THE DESERT

Photo courtesy of www.abudhabi-adventure.com

Team Blackheart have now had a full nights sleep after finishing the desert trek around 3pm local time yesterday and are gearing up for two days of paddling. Conditions were said to be tougher than in previous years throughout the 116km of desert trekking with higher temperatures and softer sand. Team Thule from NZ who continue to lead took 28 hours to complete the stage (including their compulsory 8hr rest time). Team Blackheart finished about an hour later however had had to skip the last CP as teams were taking longer than the race organisation had anticipated. It was unfortunate to miss the last CP, which only the first 8 teams made, however they are still hopeful and well within striking distance of the top 10 overall.

Despite missing the last CP Team Blackheart still had a great trek moving up several places in the overall. Following their GPS tracker they appeared to have a great 2nd half of the stage and have consequently moved up to 12th overall. Here are Rob's comments from the trek,

"Desert trek was tough as expected, big big dunes and very hot on 2nd day. We never moved as fast as we would have liked but still moved up a few spots. 10th place still in reach".

Photo courtesy of www.abudhabi-adventure.com

Teams are now congregated on the shore ready for the next two days of paddling where they will cover 128kms if they get all checkpoints. Teams have until 6pm local time today before they must have reached one of the many islands within the course where they must camp the night. They may then continue from 6am the following morning all the way to the finish line. This paddling leg was scheduled to begin at 6.30am local time (which was over an hour ago), however there has apparently been a strong wind change and teams are waiting to hear further about the start. [Edit: I've just read that the strong winds and big seas have forced the cancellation of the first day of paddling - teams are being transferred to Abu Dhabi].

In other Australian news, Jarad from Thule Europe is still racing strongly in 2nd overall. Giddiup are in 21st having missed a couple of CPs in the desert, and Rogue / Sleepmonsters are in 42nd place (watching their tracker they possibly didn't complete the desert trek however look to be lined up ready for today's paddling stage).

The GPS trackers have been working really well - follow the link here.

Through The Liwa Desert

Teams are currently still trekking through the soft sands of the Liwa Dersert, which is also commonly known as the 'Empty Quarter' with dunes as far as the eye can see. Prior to reaching here they spent about 5 hours riding over desert roads which ranged from fast asphalt surfaces to unridable sandy sections. As teams were riding they had Saudi Arabia to their left, and never ending sand dunes to their right. Team Blackheart rode solidly to finish in around 15th position before arriving at the 5 star Hotel for a quick 30 minute mandatory rest stop to prepare and refuel for the next leg - the 121km trek. Team Giddiup was only one position behind having also ridden well, and Team Rogue / Sleepmonsters arrived not too long afterwards.

(Photo courtesy of sleepmonsters.com.au)

As I went to bed last night all teams had started the epic trek where the heat was picking up to about 38 degrees. During this stage teams are required to take a minimum of 8 hours rest at two of the CPs along the way so strategy with the heat could play a big part of finishing this stage strongly. Team Thule, from NZ, who have been leading for the majority of the race decided to keep pushing on from CP H3, 17.5kms into the trek. The majority of other teams chose to take some of their mandatory rest time here to sit out some of the most intense heat of the day, including Team Blackheart. Giddiup was one of the only other teams not to rest here probbly wondering why people were complaining about the heat, however decided to bypass at least the next optional CP and short-cut to the next one.

(Photo courtesy of sleepmonsters.com.au)

Overnight, Australian time, Team Blackheart (according to Orion's Blog - thanks - but who is Blackwater????!!) left CP H3 together with Team Orion and appeared to be moving well. Currently (now just after 2am local time), they are about 3kms south of CP H4, where they appeared to spend some more of their compulsory rest time. Team Giddiup are moving well up near the front of the field, having missed some CPs, while Team Rogue / Sleepmonsters have also recently left CP H4 and appear to be short-cutting straight to CP H5.

Team Thule (NZ) leading the way.

(Photo courtesy of sleepmonsters.com.au)

There is still a lot of sand trekking to go, but at least conditions should be a bit more manageable during the cooler temperatures of the night.

Two Days of Intense Racing.......

Team Blackheart Adventure have now completed 2 days of super fast paced racing and are sitting in 15th position overall, and are slowly moving their way up the leaderboard. Day 1 saw them complete the 2.5hr Prologue consisting of paddling inflatable canoes (which seemed to cause many teams some steering problems!), running and swimming. The team finished mid-field in this section and as Rob put it - "we went okay, but sucked at canoeing". I'm assuming from that that they were one of the teams that struggled with the steering!!! A few hours after the Prologue, racing continued with a 30km flat mountain bike ride and then a 6.3km running section. Again the team hit problems on the riding section with Rob being "taken out on the second corner". I assume with the tight bunch start that Rob must have had his wheel cut off and came off second best. To make matters worse he also broke a spoke and punctured during the same incident so they spent the rest of the stage playing catch up. After Day 1 they were placed 30th overall, with plenty of work to do.

(Photo courtesy of Sleepmonster.com.au)

Day 2 had teams starting the day's racing before sunrise. They began with 5.5 kms of adventure running, before picking up their bikes for a 13.8km ride on the tarmac, up hill to the top of the highest point of the race, the Jebel Hafeet. They had to carry all their climbing gear with them, making this an even tougher climb. Teams then had to complete an 11km mountaineering stage which included about a 2km fixed rope section. The stage times of this section are yet to be updated on the event Website, however Team Blackheart Adventure must have had a good day as they have moved up to 15th position overall, and time's are still very tight with plenty of racing to go. In Rob's words, "Today was a great course. Real mountain with 2km of fixed rope. We had okay day but still have a long way to go. The sand dunes look big!".

(Photo courtesy of abudhabi-adventure.com)

Rob's last comment is referring to the stage which they will tackle later on today. In about an hour they will complete a 94km mountain bike section, followed by the huge 121km desert orienteering section. The team must have caught sight of the sand dunes in the distance they will be crossing so at least they have an idea of the huge task ahead!

In other Australian news, Jarad is racing right up near the front of the field and still holding onto his 2nd place overall with the fast Thule Europe team. The Cairns based team of Giddiup started the Prologue in very impressive fashion finishing the canoeing section in 3rd place, before holding onto a 5th place finish for that section. They've continued to race strongly and are currently in 19th position. The Brisbane based team of Rogue / Sleepmonsters have been racing very consistency and are in 35th position.

I'll try and post another update after this next stage which will take teams the next couple of days to complete. It's hard to get much on the team's progress other than their overall position, but hopefully they'll have a great next stage and we'll hear from them once they're done and are resting up for the next stage.

Good luck to all teams in keeping the desert sands from migrating into their shoes!!!

AUSSIES AT ABU DHABI ADVENTURE CHALLENGE

Team Blackheart are heading to Abu Dhabi (one of the seven United Arab Emirates) in the Middle East to compete in the World's premier Adventure Race - the Abu Dhabi Adventure Challenge. Now in its 4th year, the race draws 60 teams from around the world to compete over 5 days of sun and sand dunes. The race involves two epic legs - including a 110km desert run, and a 130km ocean kayak leg that spans over two days and involves a camp on a desert island.

The race is Team Blackheart's first international race since winning their 2nd XPD Australia title in May this year. However various members have been very active locally, winning both the Geoquest 48hr, and the Darkside 12hr Adventure Races. For this race regular team members Rob Preston and Damon Goerke are being joined by Kathryn Ewels and Luke Haines. Luke joined the team at late notice, but has been doing very well on the Australian multisport circuit for the last few years including wins at the Upper Murray Challenge and Freycinet Challenge in 2009. Rob and Kathryn raced the World Orienteering Championships and Wulong Mountain Quest (in Team Peak Adventure). Ewels also took home 2 gold medals at the Australian Orienteering Championships, and 2nd place in the World Rogaining Championships in New Zealand a few weeks ago. Damon also clocked up a win in the Great Ocean Walk 100km Ultra run last month, then 6th place in the World Rogaining Champs with Rob.

None of the team members have raced the Abu Dhabi Adventure Challenge previously, so they will have a very tough challenge against more experienced teams like Thule Adventure Team, and Team Orion (both from New Zealand).

Two other Australian teams will be racing, both from Queensland. Brisbane based Team Rogue-Sleepmonsters were fortunate to win a free entry courtesy of the Abu Dhabi Tourism Association and Sleepmonsters website. Rogue have raced together extensively on the local AR scene, however this is their first overseas race. Team Giddiup are based in Cairns and also have a lot of experience on the local scene. Other Aussies competing are Jarad Kohlar who will join the very strong Thule Adventure Europe team, and Cath Todd in 2XU Blackberry.

The race starts on Friday 10th December and will be covered on the race Website - http://www.abudhabi-adventure.com/ and http://www.facebook.com/teamblackheart

Thank you to our sponsors who help our team race in Australia and abroad.

Blackheart Outdoor Store www.blackheart.com.au

Shotz Sports Nutrition www.shotz1.com

Silva Compasses www.silva.se

Salomon www.salomonsports.com

Aussie Butt Cream www.aussiebuttcream.com

Trigger Point Therapies Australia www.tptherapy.com.au

Rob Preston

Team Blackheart Adventure Racing