Kiwis supreme in Abu Dhabi race

The Press

FINAL LEG: Marcel Hagener (left), Elina Ussher and Richard Ussher, along with team-mate Nathan Fa'avae (not pictured) run the final 100 metres to win the Abu Dhabi Adventure Challenge.

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New Zealanders have confirmed their reputation as the top adventure racers with an emphatic victory in one of the world's toughest events.

The six-day Abu Dhabi Adventure Challenge involving running, mountainbiking, sea kayaking, swimming and rock climbing across the largest emirate of the United Arab Emirates, was won for the third time on Wednesday by an all-Kiwi team led by Nelson couple Richard and Elina Ussher.

The second-placed team was also an all-New Zealand group, led by Coast to Coast winner Fleur Pawsey, of Christchurch. Even the French team that was third included a Kiwi entrant, Dwarne Farley, of Mt Maunganui.

The win was the most emphatic yet by the Usshers, who have dominated the Abu Dhabi event since it was launched as the world's richest adventure race in 2007.

Their winning team that year split in two for last year, taking first and second places.

The award ceremony in Abu Dhabi was told this victory will mean the Usshers "assume their place in the history of adventure racing as one of the greatest duos of all time".

Richard Ussher downplayed the achievement of winning the race three times, saying: "It's not secret how to win these races – you get four fast people and hammer the s... out of it".

But he also paid tribute to his team, which included Nathan Fa'avae and Marcel Hagener.

"It's been a very hard six days, physically and mentally, but the team has done a fantastic job. You couldn't ask for more.

"Any time someone was getting down, someone else on the team would be able to help them."

The Usshers' team led from the start, which involved an urban cycle-run-swim-kayak quadrathlon in downtown Abu Dhabi, then increased the lead on almost every stage of the race despite brutal conditions at times.

The key to their success was a 120km crossing of the huge sand dunes of the Empty Quarter, which took about 19 hours of running. The Usshers began with a 45-minute lead but then kept pace with the other top teams through the dunes, effectively neutralising the segment.

If they thought torture in sand was over after that run, they were given a rude reality check when the next 88km mountainbiking leg coincided with a vicious sandstorm which coated the road in sand drifts, forcing them to dismount and push, and also literally sandblasted the competitors.

When the Usshers cycled that route in the inaugural 2007 race, it took them two hours and 15 minutes and involved about a cumulative 400m of drifting sand. This year it took them 3hr 30min and involved more than 2km of sand, made up of short but treacherous stretches.

Part of the Kiwis' reputation for their adventure racing prowess was because three of the nine members who were in the top three teams were drafted in at very short notice.

Nathan Fa'avae, who had won the world adventure racing championship with Richard Ussher in 2005, had retired from the sport but was drafted into the team 10 days before the race when another team member broke his collarbone.

Richard Ussher said the first time he had competed in the Abu Dhabi Adventure Challenge, they had put the cost on their credit cards and if they had failed to net a decent share of the US$206,500 (NZ$285,000) prizemoney, they were likely to lose their house.

They won the US$40,000 first prize but after paying their bills and tax, only netted about NZ$5000.

Since then they have been sponsored by companies associated with the Abu Dhabi Government, removing the risk of financial straits if they fail to snare some of the prizemoney.

- © Fairfax NZ News