Yo what up peeps! last weekend was Hatta Duathlon. for all o’ ya who don’t where Hatta is, it is a very very large village on the eastside of the UAE close to the Omani border. The area surrounding Hatta, which is by the way part of the Dubai Emirate, is mostly barren land with some villages belonging to other Emirates and surrounded by a range of hills. The hills range from ca. 300 m to 800m max and have the complexion of that 1980’s candy bar that we had in Switzerland called Rayon, which was quite a voluminous candy with some bubble holes inside.
The landscape looks kind of Mars-ish, proof to the fact that there must have been a lot of water in that area a long long long time ago.
the roads around Hatta are frequently used by triathletes and cyclists and it has some mean mean ramps at times as roads are built along the motto ” ok, here is a hill, there is some dynamite, and we have to get over it “. no winding climbs here that is for sure, but then again they are not that long.
Anyhizzel, the race itself was perfectly put up by the race.me guys, neatly planned and executed, big thumbs up and thanks to everyone. 🙂
The race got on on a beautiful day with mild temps and all that. we went off like the firefighters and in front on the first run leg since it was Duathlon, was a combination of the Johannesburg, Sunderland and Luxembourg Fire Departments. at turnaround on top of the first hill the Sunderland FD ran out of water and the Joburg and Luxembourg took on from there and ran at a sporty pace back to T1. During T1, I had a much faster transition than my south African companion, which some of his mates called rightly so ” Speedy “.
Soon as I was on the bike, I went from FD urgence to DEWA mobile power plant and that worked out very well and put out very high and hard pace throughout the bike leg. The out and back lead up to the roundabout in Huwaylat, where Johan Moolman and his crew were still munching on some brekky. I guess they did not expect any guests that early!
the way back to Hatta is the hard part, but I had a sizeable lead so I could check out the other guys, and they all looked good, especially Kevin West, who is a tremendous biker that had done a semi mara the day before!
back in T2, an offroad 2 x 2k run awaited us as a dessert and boy, that was a not so sweet dessert as it was a mix of gravel, hardpan, washed out trails and a mule trail climb/descent.
was happy when it was done and also very happy with the shape I am in. another top of the podium finish and congratulations to Kevin West, Ruan Ferreira, Paul West, Kenneth Heney, Andy Mac. Also shout out to the ladies Deirdre Casey for the top spot ( first win since gotten married ), Vicky Arscott, Simone Walter who narrowly beat Leana Less for a podium sport and Lynette Warn.
But congrats to all competitors for finishing since this one was a tough mother.
all in all a great event in a great setting including the transition in the Hatta Fort hotel. also thanks to Giorgio Cecchinato, who has shot some excellent pics of all competitors during the race. All pictures below are subject to copyright of Giorgio Cecchinato December 7 2013. Molto bene, Giorgio, keep em coming! 🙂