Saturday, December 15, 2007

Oman Adventure 2007 Local Teams Challenge


The final of the Oman Adventure 2007, included the traditional night stage. the two local teams from Oman A'Rustaq and Bahla made a spirited attempt to win the stage, coming in 3rd and 4th on the stage.

Later in the day on the final leg along the beach to the finish, they both dropped a place, but had done enough to retain their positions on the day.Having raced for a total of just under 23 hours


Photo Regards du Sport / Darasing (vandystadt.com)

The winners of the event were Aigle Sybelles ESF,Who were only headed once on during the second stage when they made an navigation error, having won every day, with a total time of just under 23 hours

ENS Cashan Bretagne La Post finished second as they had on every day and they were some two hours behind followed home overall by Raid In/SGTE-Ineo/suez with a 3 hour gap

A further One hour behind was A'Rustaq. Bahla's performance on the final day allowed them to rise to 6th place overall.
Gerald Fusil has once again produced a superb race in the beautiful and somtimess harsh surrounding of Oman.





Gerards Fusil believes in organising races for racers for whom it is more important that they challenge themselves than race for large pots of gold. Yes winning is important but like the Olympics of old where all you won was a laurel leaf crown.

The moment money comes into the equation rules get bent as team are driven to win and what should be friendly competition develops into an out and out battle with many claims for cheating.

The Reunion D'Aventure, and Oman adventure will be joined next year by the Raid Caneo Nature in France, to uphold the true spirit of Adventure racing





David Ogden

International Adventurers

Friday, December 14, 2007

Oman Adventure 2007 Day 4 Oman Teams close up




Oman Adventure 2007 Day 4 heralded the long distance in the history of the race 73
Kilometers. Thankfully the course followed Wadis otherwise the racers would have been
in trouble.



Photo Alain Essock
Local Omani team A'Rustaq seemed to have got back on pace finishing in third place at the end of the two stages. the reward was to regain 4th place overall. they are not expected to be able to climb any higher unless an accident befalls the teams ahead of them.
The second Oman Team Bahla, also had a good day running alongside A'Rustaq for most of the day and this has brought them back into the pack.
The leaders Aigles Sybelles ESF extended their lead by another 25 mins in the first stage of the day and then paced themselves and raced alongside the Postal team for the second stage, knowing that they have two hours in hand.

The Adventure racers in this years Oman Adventure have faced extremes of temperature from 33C - zero and of altitude when climbing Jabal Shams.Remote and sun baked tracks and lush
Wadi's.

The final is not expected to result in any changes of position for the first three
teams, however only 7 min separates 4th and 5th place, so we shall have to wait and
see.



Thursday, December 13, 2007

Oman Adventure 2007 Day 3














Photo Regards du Sport / Darasing
(vandystadt.com)

Day 3 of the Oman Adventure 2007 was divided into two stages and was easy compared with
the second day as some of the course was on tarred roads, making a total distance of 54 kilometres.

There is a big speed difference between first and last, with of course two teams classified as Adventure.

Team 74 EAGLE SYBELLES ESF remain the undisputed leaders taking another 32 minutes from the chasing Post Office team.

Team 71 RAID IN/SGTE INEO/SUEZ continued their rise up the rankings into 3rd place.

Local Team A'Rustique had a good 4th position for the day keeping in touch with team 71 but still have a lot of work to do to get pull back into 4th place overall, with around an hour to make up.

Team 77 Total were also overtaken one of the Local Omani teams Bahla.

The Oman Adventure racers are camped over at Bani Kalman


David Ogden

International Adventurers

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Oman Adventure 2007 Day 2 Leaders Get Lost

The pace of the race on day two of the Oman Adventure 2007 was too hot for two of the teams, who failed to reach the cutoff at CP, so they will continue along a shortened course.

The teams started the day with some canyoning and then picked up their mountain bikes to start a long leg in the direction of Amq, after which they faced a savage incline following a track up the mountainside, which required both team members to push their bike at times.

The leading team 74 Eagle Sybelles Est made a navigational error after the canyoning which allowed The Post office team to arrive first at Yasib but with the former leaders hot on their heels ( I remember a similar story last year when one of the leaders got lost on the first day). In the final stage of the day order was restored with the leaders adding another 13 minutes lead to the overall time. The team is very strong and if they have a good day tomorrow they will probably have the race in the bag.

The leading Omani team A'Rustaq as expected lost 4th place to Raid Inisgt-ineo/suez, who appeared to have an excellent day and are within striking distance of third place. so there could be some hot action tomorrow.

Two teams 76 Arranges tourist and 75 Lattitude 55 EGT Climtech will restart tomorrow from the campsite at Jabal Shams on the shortend course, for team 55 it is a miricle that they are still in the race after having assistance from the press who provided food, water and power gels to get them back on their feet. Tomorrow marks the halfway point of The Oman Adventure 2007
and then its downhill to the finish!

David Ogden
International Adventurers

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Oman Adventure 2007 Day 1

The second day of of Oman adventure started with a run along a steep footpath into the mountains, with Aigles Sybelles ESP breaking away from a chasing group of three teams which included A'Rustaq of Oman. Once into the bike and run proper the leading team showed its class and extended their lead to about an hour.overe a demanding course. The Post Office team ended up second with Lattitude 55 AMC taking third place a great improvement over their 8th place in the Prologue. The Omani Team dropped back from the chase and managed to hold 4th place.

Overall the heat and steep climbs took their toll and the teams were happy to rest at the finish in preparation for another day.



Photo Alain Issock :


David Ogden
International Adventurers

Monday, December 10, 2007

Oman Adventure 2007 Prelude

This year marks the third running of Gerard Fusils Oman adventure, otherwise know as the longest Bike and Run adventure race. Th race has been somewhat over shadowed by the Abu Dhabi Challenge which has a big dollar prize fund where all teams earn money!


The course is placed North East of Muscat with a transfer into the mountains at the start and then teams will make their way across the mountains before returning to the sea and finishing in Sawadi.
Eleven teams took part in the prologue on Sunday a 3K run from the Citadal of A Na’aman towards the sea. the first team AIGLE SYBELLES ESF breaking 12 minutes and local team A'RUSTAQ arrived in 3rd place less than a minute behind. the last team to finish was Total some six minutes later and it seems that Dominique GARCIA may be forced to retire having aggravated a previous Achilles tendon injury. The team that came second today will have to hope that the makeshift repairs to their bike which was damaged during transport will be good for the start of the race proper. Full results can be found at http://www.authentiqueaventure.com/SPIP-v1-8-3//rubrique.php3?id_rubrique=204






Oman Adventure 2007 Prelude

This year marks the third running of Gerard Fusils Oman adventure, otherwise know as the longest Bike and run advanture race. Th race has been somewhat over shadowed by the Dubai adventure Challenge which has a big dollar prize fund where all teams earn money!

The course is placed North East of Muscat with a transfer into the mountains at the start and then teams will make their way accross the mountains before returning to the sea and finshing in Sawadi.
Eleven teams took part in the prolog on Sunday a 3K run from the Citadal of A Na’aman towards the sea. the first team AIGLE SYBELLES ESF breaking 12 minutes and local team A'RUSTAQ arrived in 3rd place less than a minute behind. the last team to finish was Total some six minutes later and it seems that Dominique GARCIA may be forced to retire having agrevated a previous achilles tendon injury. The team that came second today will have to hope that the makeshift repairs to thier bike which was damaged during transport will be good for the start of the race proper. Full results can be found at http://www.authentiqueaventure.com/SPIP-v1-8-3//rubrique.php3?id_rubrique=204