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‘Dune-Up Oman ‘08’ biathlon
begins
From left: Ali bin Daud, Stefanie Treiv, Nasser al Hashar and
Hilal al Sinani at the press conference. — ONA
By Ali Ahmed al Riyami
MUSCAT — The first ever Dune-Up Oman 2008 biathlon endurance race that
is being held in association with McDonalds and Coca-Cola, is set to
commence today, it was announced at a press meet held at McDonalds in the
Capital Commercial Centre (CCC) yesterday. Addressing the media personnel
was a panel made up of Stefanie Treiv, Event Co-ordinator, Ali bin Daud,
President of McDonalds — Oman, Hilal al Sinani, General Secretary of the
Oman Olympic Committee, Nasser bin Saeed al Hashar of the Al Hashar Group of
Companies, Susanne Beisenherz (pictured), competitor and World Champion of
the 2007 Triple and Double Iron, as well as the winner of the RAK Ultra
Triathlon (Dubai) 2007 and Dr Jan Brommundt.
It was noted that one of the reasons Oman has been selected to host the
race, which is set to become an annually held competition here, is because
of the country’s impressive terrain that will really challenge the
capabilities of the 23 participants who are taking up the challenge. Of the
23 competitors — from Switzerland, England, Germany and Poland — three are
female, including the World Championship holder. The convoy left Muscat
yesterday for Wadi Bani Auf where they set up camp and are beginning the
first leg of their 5-day marathon today. Today’s test is the commencement of
the 100-km ‘Mountain-bike Altitude Challenge’, beginning at 8 am from Al
Awabi to the Sharaf al Alamayn plateu and then down to Nizwa, where they
will spend the night at the Jebal Shams’ Treasure Box Resort.
Tomorrow, on their second leg, will be the competitors’ first sand dune
encounter, where they are to begin with an afternoon warm-up run over the
sand dunes of Al Rimal al Sharqiyah for ‘The Wahiba Sands Endurance Track’
before they retire overnight at their desert camp. On Tuesday, in the third
leg of the race, they face the first part of the ‘Desert Endurance Trail’,
which is from Qihayd to Al Qabil — a total run of some120-km from north to
south, across the Eastern Sands. Here the competitors begin a gruelling
40-kilometre marathon race that is made nearly three times more difficult as
it is run over soft sand rather than the usual tarmac.
They again spend a scheduled overnight desert camp stay before commencing
the second part of the trail (on Wednesday) that again takes them on a 40-km
desert run. The final leg will be on Thursday, where they complete the
Desert Endurance Trail to the finish line. Here they run another arduous
40-km desert race to the finish, ending up at the Raha Tourist Camp before
transferring back to Muscat the following day. Dune-Up is an extreme sports
event equivalent to three regular marathons. Although it is not considered a
race in the normal sense of the word, it places high demands on the physical
and mental stamina of participants. They are required to stand up to the
extreme heat, wind and the uncertainty about desert tracks, testing the
athletes to the utmost limits of their abilities. |
