ADAC: Team Inov-8 Mzansi

Team Inov-8 Mzansi took on 50 of the world’s best Adventure Racing teams at the 2010 Abu Dhabi Adventure Challenge. We found formidable conditions, tough competition, high speed racing, and challenging stages. We came out with an experience of a fantastic AR stage race. We saw the best parts of a beautiful and desolate part of the world. We raced for 6 days as 4 people totally focused on moving as fast as possible. It was awesome!

The team was made up of Alex Pope, Tim Deane, Alan Neate and Jane Swarbreck. The Abu Dhabi Adventure Challenge is a 6 day staged Adventure Race. The 2010 edition ran from the 10^th to the 15^th of December. The massive prize money attracted some big names. We finished in 33^rd place.

The first day revealed some outrageously fast competition. The second day was twice as long as we were expecting. With 3 hours of sleep before day 3 it was becoming much tougher than the previous year. After 36 hours of racing through the desert we knew that the dunes demanded respect and a more conservative strategy. Unfortunately day 5’s paddle was canceled due to strong winds. Day 6 allowed us to finish on a high with a strong 11^th place on the shortened paddle stage.

In short we had a great experience. Perhaps the tougher course made it more memorable. Our result was shaped by the decisions made in the desert, which cost us a more respectable position. We worked well as a team and enjoyed every stage.

Thanks must go to our supporters and sponsors. We used some great Inov-8 products and we were happy to associate with 32GI. It was also great to race with and against Cyanosis and Team www.AR.co.za. We were proud to be South African.

The rest of the report is a stage by stage account of our experience. I (Alex) wrote about Day 1 and 2. Tim covered the cycle on Day 3. Jane did the desert trek on Day 3 and 4. And Tim wrote about the final paddle on Day 6. Alan had a hard earned holiday with his wife and girls and approved things by phone.

Day 1 – Alex

We went into the race thinking that the prologue would suit us. Our girl is faster than most and we have 3 guys who can move quite well. Were we in for a shock! While running down the pavement on the Adu Dhabi sea front at 4:00 min/km, I could not believe how many teams were in front of us and how many were coming past us. 

The start of the prologue was hectic as 100 inflatable jumping castles were coaxed around a triangular course in the Abu Dhabi Corniche bay. The ‘inflatable jumping castles’ were red inflatable canoes, which we had no experience paddling. This short paddle was followed by a 3.5km sprint down the beachfront road. We then zig zagged through the Abu Dhabi palace grounds and caught up to Cyanosis. Next was the swim. I swam at full speed while Jane and Tim took turns to either lead me or practice their backstroke. I was hoping we’d have a good gap on Cyanosis. The buoys were all close to shore and Nic’s wading was effective, so they came out surprisingly close to us. 

We were met by Alan on the beach – he had the job of moving our gear to the end of the swim. What followed was a lot of swearing and cursing about a missing race bib. We were racing bibs-only and since Tim and Jane already had their’s on, it was Rambo style for me. Alan was convinced he stuck it in somewhere so we checked all our Inov-8 Race-Pro pockets as we ran back out of the palace. There was no sign of it so we assumed Alan had dropped it while carrying the bags to the end of the swim. 

We ran well back to the jumping castles. We had to paddle 3.5km to Lulu Island. Tim and I were very scientific about figuring out how to keep the boats pointed in the right direction. Alan and Jane did a few donuts and were caught by Cyanosis. We figured out that the floor of their inflatable had gone flat which made going straight difficult. 

We jumped out onto Lulu island with Cyanosis again. The check points seemed to be in exactly the same place as last year so it was just a flat out run. This would be our first run up a dune. It was a sprint compared to anything we did on the dunes on days 3 and 4. We got back into the boats and decided to try some different paddling combinations. Many zig zags later we finished the 3.5km paddle back. We’d lost about 6 minutes to Cyanosis on the final paddle. We were disappointed about the deflated boat but the rest felt good. We were 29th. Clearly the 2010 field was fast. 

We hopped on a bus headed for Al Ain, an oasis at the bottom of Jebel Hafeet. Alan had a flash of inspiration and checked the bladder pocket of Tim’s Inov-8 pack. The lost bib was found!

The afternoon of day 1 started with a 23km ride from Al Ain to the base of Jebel Hafeet. Before the start, we had some time to put our pedals and accessories onto the borrowed Cannondale bikes. We rolled over to the start with a few minutes to spare. Jane noticed that her front tyre wasn’t holding the air we’d put into it. Panic! Jane ran off to see if she could find a whole new front wheel off a spare bike. She did well to cause enough of a scene to delay the start. The race waited as we swapped the wheel and pumped it up. We started the stage from the back of the group – which turned out to be costly. 

We set off. We moved through the stragglers quickly and started winding up the pace. Jane lives for this kind of riding and she started time trialing us through the field. Hurricane Jane blew several teams off our slip as we moved into a quick group. We handled the high speed and twitchy group riding well. We reached the foot of Jebel Hafeet and had a few kilometers of dirt road before the transition. We clocked into transition 27^th. 

The next section was a mountain run with an abseil for two of the team members. We moved briskly into the spectacular desert mountain. The time for the abseil was neutralised as there was a queue of teams when we got there. Jane and Tim waited for the abseil. Alan and I walked down. The abseil was a fun 30m. We regrouped at the bottom for a short sprint into the camp. We finished the mountain run in 31^st. 

This was our first of the desert camps. We slept in our own tents. The organisors provided showers and piles of good food. We finished the day in 29^th position. Our sore legs showed day 1 was hard and fast. 

Day 2

Day 2’s length would be difficult to predict. I guessed we should pack for a worst case of 8 hours. It was difficult to say because the whole stage took place within a 10km radius. Even 3 hours into the stage we were unsure. Tim said “So much for 8 hours… we’ll be done in 2.” We jogged into the finish after 10 hours, thirsty and knackered. Tim was demoted from making any more predictions. 

We kicked off day 2 with a 4km sprint along the bottom of Jebel Hafeet. Jane asked what pace we’d start at and I just said stick with Cyanosis. That she did, putting Tim and Alan in some distress. Thankfully Cyanosis slowed down a bit and we started the climb over the ridge not far behind them. 

We picked up our bikes and started one of my favourite parts of the race. It was a 21km suffer-fest on the winding tar switchbacks up to the top of Jebel Hafeet. The only good thing about the Cannondale bikes on this stage was that they came with a granny gear. We needed it! It was a steady burn on the shortest line winding up the 800m climb. The reason I liked this stage was the four person towing train we got into. I wish we had a photo! We did well, finishing 1 minute behind Cyanosis in 1h13 and 24^th place. Our best results were coming from the cycling legs. 

We got to the parking lot at the top for a quick transition. We loaded up on water and set off into the rocky abyss of Jebel Hafeet. We followed some marked routes for a few kilometers. We then had to find our own way to CP3, 4 and 5. Earlier in transition, I’d grabbed the map out of my bike map board and stashed it into the teams water box. I realised that I didn’t ever grab it out of the box again! We had a GPS so it wasn’t a disaster, but I gave a few vague answers about the layout of the stage and what to expect. Thankfully it wasn’t a problem. I’m learning to seem confident when I don’t have a clue – an important skill for a navigator. 

We got to the top of the via ferrata and the delays started. Via ferrata is a way of progressing on dangerous sections where you clip onto a rope to catch you if you fall. The trickier sections bunched the field up and we spent a lot of time standing around. There were some spectacular views down the mountain. The amount of rope laid out by the organisors was very impressive – we must have been clipped in for a few thousand meters. We eventually reached the abseil at 1:00 pm. We were told that if we wanted to make the 2:00 pm deadline at CP7 we should walk around the abseil. We did as we were told with 3 or 4 other teams. We got to CP7 with lots of time to spare and we could easily have done the abseil. Because the time was stopped for the abseil, there was no penalty for skipping the abseil. It turned out that Alan and I didn’t get the chance to use our abseiling gear. 

At CP7 we were at the bottom of Jebel Hafeet. We had to climb back up again to the end of the stage. The 2010 race was getting good value out of the 1000m mountain. We were passed by the 3 girl Russian team. They were moving rapidly and their guy was struggling to keep up – very impressive! We started to run out of water and we realised day 2 was turning into a big day out. 

We got to the top and ran into the parking lot at 4:30 pm. The small shop did a roaring trade in Coke before we jumped onto the bus for an almost 4 hour drive to the next camp. The mountain run took us 7h20. We finished the day in 32nd place.  We had supper at 10pm. The following day’s 2:30 am wake-up and 4:00 am start meant that we didn’t get much sleep. 

Day 3’s Bike Leg by Tim

With heavily laden packs (race food for 2 days, hiking poles and shoes) we got going on the 90km MTB section which was billed as a light warm-up to the desert trek. The early pace of 25-30 km/h was high considering that it was pitch-black and that the ‘road’ was heavily potholed and covered in patches of sand. Loud shouts from ahead warned of obstacles but all riders were on edge most of the time anyway with their weight far back and trigger-happy reactions. Various small bunches formed and we worked well with Cyanosis and 3 other teams. Alan was starting to lose his sense of humour after battling with the pace, getting involved in a crash when another competitor lost control on some sand (Alex also went down) and having his bike light lose its grip and point uselessly up in the sky.                                                                                         

After 2 hours of riding the new day dawned and revealed sand dunes dominating the skyline all around us, a taste of what lay ahead on the trek. By now most of the teams had settled into their own rhythm and the temperature started rising. There were a few climbs and many more sandy patches to slow progress down to bike-plod speed at times. If you kept your balance and therefore steering, with some speed and power you could just make it through the sandy drifts. The larger drifts were impossible to get through even though we let our tyres down as much as we dared. These required unclipping and walking. On a number of occasions, Alan opted for the soft landing of a sideways fall when he didn’t feel like unclipping in time – often mumbling something about how much he loved sand 😉

We finished the section strongly blazing past 2 teams on the final climb into the transition at the Qasr al Sarab resort, clocking 6h08 and 29th place. The strong finish motivated the team for a speedy change to desert hiking gear while trying to force as much food and liquid down as possible. Carrying as much water as we could, we started the trek just before 11h00 after a 40 min transition. 

Desert Trek,  Day 3 and 4 – by Hurricane Jane

This is it boys! This is war! 

The expanse, the majesty, the loneliness and the peace. This was the Empty Quarter. And we were here to conquer it. It was war against the relentless dunes, the soft sand and the blistering hot salt pans. But in reflection, this stage was not about us making our mark on the desert but the mark that the desert left in us. It was an experience like no other! 

The desert trek started off quickly and solidly. Before we knew were at CP3+ encouraged by how quickly we seemed to be covering the ground. Tempting fate, as we ran across the first salt pan, I looked up at the towering dune on the right and spiritedly said, “Sho, imagine we had to climb that”.  Imagine the ignorance and the irony! 

In an endurance race, it is well known that no matter how good or bad you feel, the feeling never lasts. As we turned towards CP 4, the sun set taking with it, our high morale. It was tough going for Alan as he was feeling ill. Our pace dropped and the dunes got steeper and softer. It became a game of following the footprints of the leading teams and counting time in 5 minute intervals. Tim loaded up with an extra pack and Alex looked after Alan. I focused on chit chat to pass the time and on making sure that the wheels stayed on my cart. And Alan dug deep! Our respite was that we would take 6 hours of compulsory rest at CP4. We had been racing for about 17 hours that day. 

That night in camp, Tim, Alex and I huddled (the cold nights were such a sharp contrast to the scorching midday heat) around the map deciding on the course of action while Alan got a head start on the rest. Alex calculated our expected leg times and we worked out that if we went to CP4+ we would get to the finish at exactly 6 pm. In retrospect we should have given ourselves a cushion for when things would invariably to wrong. Especially since Alan was not feeling well. Perhaps Alex’s mind was swayed by Tim and mine’s enthusiasm and determination and the final decision was “LETS DO IT!”. Tim and I were still convinced that we would not only make 4+ but also 5+.   

We left CP 4 at 3 am which left us with about 3 – 4 hours of dark. The sleep did not provide the boost that Alan so badly needed. And within 2 hours of this leg I knew that we had bitten off more than we chew. The sun came up, putting a spring in our step but also bringing an impending fear of not making the 6pm cutoff. With a renewed sense of purpose and urgency we strode on, up and over another dune. The dunes in the early morning sun between CP4+ and CP5 was one of the most spectacular sights that I can remember.

The mental aspect of a stage of this size plays a big part. During the hike, everything is focused on getting to the finish line. Your thoughts hardly ever wonder off to home/work. Nothing seems as important as the next step or the next energy bar. 

Tim assumed the job of water reservoir; I became the Eating and Drinking Police and tried hard to make sure that this was the song stuck in everyone’s head:

To the right
To the left
We will fight to the death
To the edge of the earth
It’s a brave new world
From the last to the first

We took the last hour and a half of our compulsory rest at CP5 in hope of finding some reprieve from the midday heat. Had we known about the 2 pm cut off at CP 6 we would never have taken this. From here on in our story becomes sad. 

We RAN into CP6 feeling strong and ready to take on this last stage and conquer this desert already. To find out that there was a cut-off at this point that was not publicized and that we couldn’t continue was devastating. For this mistake, we received a harsh and unfair 25 hour penalty and got lumped together with teams that didn’t even start the hike and teams that did it with 3 people. We had smashed 2 out of the 4 optional points and were finishing stronger than ever. Had we not been cut-off at CP6 we would have probably arrived late 30 min to 1 hour late at the finish. The penalty for this would have been 10 hours but more importantly we wouldn’t have got a DNF! 

As a result of the penalty, our overall placing was no reflection of how we had fared in the desert. The VASBYT shown by every single person in the team was remarkable. Alex was a strong and consistent leader, Tim was a powerhouse and Alan determinedly pushed through the tough moments for some incredible comebacks. 

The sting and disappointment didn’t set in properly until we had to walk 3 km over the dunes to the pickup point for the bus.  The looks on my teammates face were heartbreaking because we knew we had come so close to defeating this desert. But despite this, we held our heads high. For this, I was most proud to be a part of TEAM INOV-8 MZANSI. ?”What counts in sports in not the victory, but the magnificence of the struggle.” How pertinent that is for the desert – a magnificent struggle. 

Day 5 and 6 – by Tim, our roving water reservoir

Disappointingly the Day 5 Paddle section was called off after the wind picked up fairly abruptly about 2 hours before the leg was due to start. Conditions were deemed too rough and the opportunity was lost for what could have been an epic stage of the race. Since we fancied our chances of making up some time in the paddle and were still down from the desert hike penalty, this was a further letdown for the team. So it was a mildly grumpy day of recovery, chatting to other teams, trying to avoid the sand that was blowing everywhere, and reflecting on what could have been. News came through that the final day’s paddle route had been shortened and revised and would be a 3-lap course of about 33 km starting and finishing at the same spot as Day 1’s Adventure triathlon.                                                        

Day 6 started with another early wake-up and breakfast before the final packing of crates. Teams were then transferred by 2hr bus-ride to Corniche Bay which was good for catching some more shut-eye and enjoying the take-away part of our earlier breakfast – pastries, boiled eggs and fruit. There was plenty of time to get ready for the 09h00 start. The boats had been lined up on the beach but without the sails since it was still too windy. Alan had managed to buy a South African flag yacht burgee back home and although we couldn’t fly this at the top of a mast, it was still proudly strapped in where the foremast would have been!

The was huge excitement amongst the teams that the last leg was here and the finish of race within reach. The final challenge was a 3-lap course of 4 checkpoints spread around the protected waters of Corniche Bay. Teams had to tackle this in an anti-clockwise manner, all members hopping out of their boats at each CP and dibbering before continuing. The start was called and a mad fanning mob spread out from the arch banner as teams made for their boats. We had a brilliant start and briefly held onto 5th place before some stronger teams nudged ahead. Jane and Alan were super strong through-out and Alan was regularly shouting positive feedback or chirps about technique to the rest of the team. Midway through lap 2 and yells of encouragement from Team AR.co.za gave us the boost we needed to move up from 13th spot. We eventually powered to the finish line in 3h38, very happy with our 11th place in this section! 

The end

We were very happy to see our fancy Abu Dhabi hotel with it’s clean beds and towels. We were treated to a huge spread of food at the closing ceremony and got to spend some time chatting to other teams about the race. We had a few days after the race to check out the sights of Abu Dhabi and Dubai. 

We finished in 33^rd place. We were disappointed with our massive penalty and final placing. We still had a great experience. It was an excellent overseas racing experience. Hopefully we will see some more South African teams at the race next year. 

Our sponsors – brands worth considering

Inov-8 is a great alternative to the established ‘off-road’ brands in South Africa. We were lucky to get to use some of their shoes and backpacks. 

They have a very wide range of shoes – something for every set of conditions. They’ve got lightweight racers, all purpose trail shoes, boots, and shoes for special purposes like orienteering. We used the Roc-Lite 312 Goretex and Roc-Lite 268. They were immediately comfortable and super grippy. We also used the F-Lite 195 and 230’s. They’re very effective as lightweight racing flats on and off road. 

Don’t overlook the Inov-8 socks. They may be expensive, but they work very well. I didn’t change them in the desert section and didn’t get any blisters. I was impressed. 

They have a good range of backpacks. We used the Race-Pro 22 and 30 litre bags. We felt that they have some way to go on the 30 litre pack. But the 22 litre bag was great. I think the mid size Inov-8’s offer a serious alternative to the Salomons. They hold a lot for 22 litres; they look good; they have the innovative horizontal hip bladder system; and they are well built. 

In short, Inov-8 is an exciting brand that gives us an alternative to the likes of Salomon. You can get hold of Inov-8 shoes at Troisport, Cyclelab, and Outdoor Freedom. Or get hold of the distributers, Rebel Fitness. 

We had been using 32GI for some time and we were excited to get some support from them for the race. 32GI is a sports drink with a low Glycemic Index. The low GI concept makes sense in endurance sport. As a diabetic, I like the concept and find it works well for me. The whole team raced on it. Tim found he got some heart burn in the high intensity paddle – but 32GI have just launched a neutral flavour that can be mixed with the other flavors to make it more ‘neutral’. We also used the 32GI chews. These have a slightly higher GI than the drink and offer more of an instant kick. They have a consistency that takes some getting used to. They go down easily and have a taste that isn’t too sweet. Give 32GI a try – the concept makes sense for Adventure Racing and endurance sport. You can buy 32GI at Dischem, the Sweatshop, and various cycling shops. And they’re proudly South African!