A to Bih, and back again..

Matt:
The 17th annual Wadi Bih relay was a great success. With over 100 teams registered, the beach the evening before, was packed with campers.

Lenny and I pitched up amongst the revelers, opting to use the cars as a windbreak, it was extremely blowy and getting worse. We cooked some dinner, a pasta treat for the carbs and got a reasonable night - it was gonna be an early start.

Kelly, Lucy and Scott, opted to stay in Dubai and get up at some unearthly hour to drive to Dibba - there plan was to leave at 4:30am...OMG!

Sleep wasn't gonna be easy, the wind was blustering my small tent to the extreme. Lenny chose to sleep in the Prado, protected from the wind but a little cramped. We woke at around 6:15am and made breakfast and awaited the arrival on the rest of our Team.

By 8 we had the Prado (Thanks Megg) fully loaded with water, snacks and supplies, all ready and raring to leave the Golden Tulip Hotel and run the 76km relay race up into the Hajar mountains. The route followed tarmac roads for about 5km at which point the terrain changes to hard packed dirt, gravel and sand tracks. Steadily climbing over the 36km first half to an altitude of 1,200 metres.

Having run the relay the year before, I was the only one who really knew what to expect. But we were all keen and out to enjoy the day and that's exactly what we did.

A runner would chose a segment, anywhere between 2 and 5 km of hell and then run to the next check point, where hopefully the car with the rest of the team waited, for a touch and a handover..

There were about 26 segments of varying length and steepness. The course was a 'there and back again' run. We swooped at the top and the race ran back down the mountain.

There were lots of runners and teams so it was a really good atmosphere with everyone out to achieve something on a personal or professional level. Only downside was the cars driving past you, while it was great that many would shout encouragement , ALL would kick up a cloud of dust that you'd breath in in your exhausted state. I think we all ended the days wheezing and coughing.

We made a great time of 6 hours for the entire run. Really pleased, lets see if we can beat it next year.