Training day - the gritty details

We have touched on this a little during the blog so far, but I am going to give everyone a little more detail on the ADTA training trip into the desert.

We had an early start on a Friday morning, all arriving at Matt’s house for 6am. From there we started the hour and a half journey to Abu Dhabi, with Matt kindly driving. On the way we randomly met another team competing in the event at a service station. It reminded me of travelling to football matches in the UK and meeting rival supporters buying their breakfasts before an early kick off. This was a much more cordial affair, the other team were very friendly, although the element of competition was never far away: throughout the day teams would ask us how much training we had done and eye us up, almost trying to picture how far into the desert we would get before collapsing into a sand dune, never to walk again.

On arriving in Abu Dhabi, we were given instruction on how to use the sea kayaks, and how to assemble the sail. It was vital technical training and we listened attentively, all the while trying to ignore the streams of sweat pouring off our faces as the Abu Dhabi sun got higher in the sky. I was feeling hot then, and we were on the beach with bronzed overweight tourists, what would it be like in the desert in the middle of the day, with not a fat man in sight? We would soon find out.

After GPS training in the Liwa hotel, we drove into the desert, parked the cars, and started to walk. Very early on we realised we had made a terrible make with our equipment. With no gaiters attached to our shoes, sand was pouring into them like the proverbial hourglass. With the shoes filling up so fast, we had two choices; either stop and empty them every five minutes – and lose a lot of ground on the group – or walk with our toes pinned up to the end of our boots. In the end we chose a mix of the two, but a massive lesson had been learnt.

At the end of a short walk, we were back at the cars and making camp for the night. Cue more training inquisitions, thinly veiled ego massaging and, most pleasantly, desert banter. Almost all of the teams were extremely easy to get on with, keen to offer advice and genuinely enjoying the whole experience.

Now a word on the desert, if you look at pictures of it you may remark on its picturesque appearance, the beautiful calm, tranquil atmosphere and the ripples in the sand, which look like icing on a cake. That’s how I used to see it - until now. The picturesque appearance is soon soul-sappingly boring. The endless dunes and never changing horizon make you think you are in a sandy, scorching, personal groundhog day. It never ends. The calm and tranquillity soon become eerie reminders of your own insignificance in comparison to this dune filled behemoth. And then there are those beautiful ripples, the icing on the cake. Well, try sleeping on one.

The next morning was the big hike. 20km or so through the desert, we knew it would be tough, and tough it was. But we made it, and did so without any serious drama. It was a huge win for Abu Desert Hacks on the first occasion we had truly been tested. The walking is difficult, in both technique and distance, but the physical and mental barriers were overcome and we made it. We know we have a lot of training to do in the next month, but this experience was like starting off with a debut victory for a rookie team. And we all feel a lot more confident for it.