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Race Result January 2009 20th February 2009
13th February 2009 6th February 2009 There were at least three teams involving ABRaS members in last Friday�s DHH Creek Relay: The YBART loonies* = Chris, Richard, Phil and Sioned (Mrs. Taylor); the Motley Crew* (Debbie, in DRR vest; Naomi, in DCS vest; Andy B, in Mirdif Milers vest, and ABRaS visitor Andrew in ABRaS AC vest); and the loyal ABRaS AC (Darryl, Emma, Andy K & Amanda), surely the favourites to win, and in fine form they were indeed. There were also some ABRsA who were heavily disguised but who brought glory to the the club on the day (more later!!) The race featured a handicap-system, with teams sent to the start line at times inversely proportionate to their predicted overall finish times. As a result, the Motley Crew started alongside the Big Crows* (Adrian Hayes, Kevin West, John P Young and Charlotte) and took the second to last starting position. It was a very well matched first leg, with Andy B and John PY finishing the first 4km section exactly side-by-side. Meanwhile, the very last starting position was held by Mr. R Pavitt and Emma (as ABRaS AC had changed their predicted finish time to match YBART exactly, hoping to ensure a thrilling race for all). Their team members waved a final goodbye and set off for the handover point at the start of Leg 2, with a few short but well-intentioned jeers at their competitors (�You will be crushed!�, �chicken, bok, bok!� etc). Waiting at the changeover point, Naomi (for Motleys), Sioned (for YBART) and Amanda (for ABRaS) were perched on the Sheikh Rashid roadside, intense concentration evident on their faces as they peered keenly into the distance, searching for signs of their team mates and the precious batons they were carrying. Naomi did not have long to wait, as she grabbed the baton from Andy B and set off round the corner at what must have been a sub-4min/km pace. After an inordinately long time, there finally appeared in the distance a figure swathed in black, a bird, an action hero, nay it was indeed Richard, running hard but due to the late start time a good ten minutes after the Motleys and Crows runners were through. But where was Emma? Still to this day, no one is really sure. Several reported sightings came in from Sheikh Zayed Rd, Sharjah, even Jebel Ali (�she had long black socks on? Yeah, I saw her, she was sprinting...�). Emma herself recalls crossing motorways and touring building sites that no other competitor saw. Whatever happened in that lost period, all we can really know for sure is that precisely two weeks after winning the Standard Chartered 10km race in a time of 37minutes, last Friday Em took 37minutes to complete her 4km leg. By the time Amanda took the baton, every other team had completed Leg 2, and so, sadly, local heroes ABRaS AC were out of the running for the top three places. An irreverent account of a warm up for a desert drinking contest (aka The Creek around the Creek Relay) The account of their exploits is taken up by Debbie and Andy. �Andy Brooks our organiser� said Debbie �predicted us at a ridiculously slow 2hr 50mins which I soon realised would mean a starting position that would give us far too few teams to follow through the tricky bits of navigation. I therefore decided to lead the protest and have him re-adjust the time on the day to 2hrs 20, which meant there were only a few teams starting behind us.� �I suggested that we should opt for a 1, 2, 1, 2, 3, 4, 3, 4 formation� continued Andy �rather than the 1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4 strategy employed by the majority of teams�.as this would optimise our speed by minimising the stiffening between the legs. I also thought I�d be kind to Debbie by taking the early longer sections myself and allow her to use her sprinting prowess in the latter short section. So when our allotted time of 10:39 hours arrived I was off like a hare towards Wafi, just holding off John (Wadi Bih) Young, who was leading out the eventual winners. Naomi then grabbed the wood from my hand with a smile and set off towards the law courts. For me it was a quick wipe down in the back of the car and, having hardly got my breath back, off again. This time sprinting along the Creek side on leg 3, trying to pass as many teams as possible and avoid knocking too many people or shop displays over as I forced my sweaty body through the crowded Souk. � �When Naomi took over the baton again and headed down into Shindagha tunnel for leg 4 there were very few teams in front of us� Debbie went on. �And the race was on for me to drive the car to the next changeover on the Deira side before she got there.� �By this time� Debbie moaned �Andy�s dirty trick of putting Andrew and I on the legs that would be under the midday sun and have the most hills, was beginning to dawn on me! However, there was no time to waste. We�d just arrived at the leg 4/5 changeover as Naomi came into sight and passed the baton on to Andrew who set off in pursuit of Richard Pavitt, who�d just taken over from Chris Taylor in a rival team. And with Andy, having finished all his running already, now taking over driving duties from me, I had to get ready to run.� Andy continued �we�d just heard that the ABRaS A Team appeared to be out of contention, with Emma last seen heading towards Jebel Ali, so now there was added incentive to keep our feet on the gas and get a good position. Although a minor panic then ensued as the excitement got to me and I took a wrong turn in the car, allowing Andrew our runner to get ahead of us momentarily.� �This was followed by a major panic� Debbie asserted �when the rest of the team insisted that I obey the race rules and run without my Garmin � how on earth would I know how fast I was going? However, I did manage to pull my self together and by the time the baton reached myself for leg 6 we were in 3rd position. Sioned had just received the baton from Richard Pavitt in 2nd position and I was praying Andrew would soon appear to pass the baton onto me so that I could at least follow Sioned to the 7th stage without getting lost in Festival City. In the end Sioned had quite some distance in front and I soon lost sight of her, but with map directions in one hand, baton in other and the help from my fellow team members stopping the car at the turning point I made my way without getting lost to the 7th Stage.� �Stage 7 looked a little tricky on the map� explained Andy �so we decided to try and keep Andrew in sight of the car to ensure he kept to the route. We realised that this was prudent when we spotted a member of a rival team stopped ahead trying to work out which route to take. He was perhaps only there for 10 seconds but imagine how he must have felt when he found out later that his team had missed out on victory by only 9 seconds! Must have been gutted eh Phil?� �The car park at Festival City was the last changeover� explained Debbie� and it was there that I grabbed the, now very sweaty, baton from Andrew and set off on stage 8. With no chance of catching the leading two teams my job was not to drop this position, so true to form I flew out of the car park and onto the Jetty!! Was there a swim involved? To the front involved a 100m swim and to the right and left at least 150m and as I looked back a lady runner had turned immediately right. So now having lost approx 2 mins and 3rd position I desperately sprinted to catch her, and by the Intercon hotel we were back in 3rd position � Phew!!!! Although I was cursing our organiser again when I saw the size of the hill I had to climb onto Business Bay Crossing bridge.� �Having stopped on the far side of the bridge� concluded Andy �it seemed like Debbie was easily going to be successful in consolidating our position, until we spotted a late challenge from a runner who appeared to be prepared to die for the cause as she sprinted across all 12 lanes of the bridge in her endeavours to catch Debbie. Despite the heat of the sun and the hills, our lady�s superior strength held off the late challenger and she cruised into the finish area to claim 3rd position. All we had to do now was wait for the main event involving pork, alcohol, profuse profanities and tuneless singing. They really should be a law against such musical misdemeanours in Islamic countries!� Other quotes from club members: "I think the most important thing to note was the absence of marshals, not even the minimum number at tricky locations...some runners lost their way." "The Creek Hash was very well organised." "As an ABRaS member, I take great pride at (finally!) having brought home some glory for the club! Our team The Letotse's won the predictor - we were 20 seconds off target. This delicately well timed run was possible due to the intense track practices I was subjected to last summer: 400m x 3, x4, x 5....I can remember thinking...when will this end...why am i doing this...am i crazy... All those timed track sessions were very very helpful! God bless the ABRaS!" |
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