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After five gruelling days in the desert, racing at breakneck speeds through 2,500km from Abu Dhabi to Dubai via the Liwa Oasis and the Empty Quarter, we completed the World Championship race. This is the story of the mighty Desert Challenge, and how the four of us represented Oman in this international race.

The UAE Desert Challenge is the eighth and final round of a series of races around the world in places such as Argentina, Tunisia, Portugal, France, Turkey, South Africa, Egypt and the UAE. The World Champion is decided in the dunes of the UAE each year. Many riders then go on to race the one off �Dakar.

Almost 50 4WD rally cars and trucks entered this year, with over 70 motorcycles and quads. Vehicles ranged from million-dollar prototype vehicles to heavily modified stock cars to two 30-tonne Kamaz trucks representing Russia. World championship and Dakar winners converging here made this a truly world-class event. International big names were joined by a strong contingent of local UAE riders on both bikes and quads, while we four �Scott Shankland, Andrew Mellor, Mike Quirk and me �represented Oman.

Race preparations

To prepare a bike for a desert race is a time and money consuming business. Firstly, you must select a bike fast, reliable and strong enough to race flat out through harsh conditions for 2,500km. You must purchase the GPS, trip meter, road book (the map holder device which spools through as you navigate through the rally) and compulsory safety beacons and buzzer. These must all be mounted on the bike. This involves endless hours of fabricating one-off brackets to suit your design and bike. These cannot be purchased off the shelf. Extensive testing in the desert is required to ensure they do not pack up in the race. All the safety equipment has its own antenna, which needs its own place on the bike. Every neighbour of our four bikers from Oman will have heard us cutting, bending, filing metal and plastic to enable the perfect race set up. This took several months of working late into the night.

Emergency water tanks need to be fitted to the bikes, along with high intensity fog lights so that upcoming vehicles can see you through the dust or early morning fog during the race. Big fuel tanks must be fabricated or procured to cope with the long distances.

Special steering dampers to cope with the vibrations at high speeds; personalised handlebar mountings and controls have to be set up. Special heavy duty tyres, inner tubes and puncture resistant slime inserted into the tubes needs to be organised. All these add weight, so suspension settings must be altered or adapted. At the end of all this, the bikes don’t bear much resemblance to their original factory form �they are no longer standard dirt bikes �they are now desert race bikes.

Racing for eight hours a day, five days in a row through searing heat requires enormous stamina and fitness, of course. To prepare for the challenge, we trained by running, cycling mountain bikes, swimming and concentrating on carbohydrate intake. Most importantly, we practised on the Bausher sand dunes every evening, crossed the Sharqiya Sands through the weekends and even made a few forays into the UAE desert.

Race control checks that every rider has the correct legal documents to race, and inspects every vehicle to check if it is race worthy and complies with rally regulations. Any modifications must be checked by the officials to ensure everything is safe, and no foul play takes place.

The prologue before the actual event is a short three kilometre race on a track built specially for the Desert Challenge. It is right in the centre of Dubai amongst all the city skyscrapers. TV crews and press from all around the world are present to film vehicles tearing round the track with the skyscrapers as a backdrop. Everyone sets off individually and the times depict the start order for the real race the next day. We start nervously, but all four of us make it within the top 45. That evening, we will ride to Abu Dhabi for the official start the next day.

Racing

Every race day started at 4:30am, when we would wake up and have a light breakfast and plenty of liquid. We’d each check our bike over, make sure everything is alright and report to the start line for the start time which is generally around 6:30am.

Each day would see us racing for up to seven hours a day with up to three hours of non-timed liaison sections (getting from the bivouac to the start or from the finish back to the bivouac). There is a 15-minute fuel stop every day, where you can also squeeze in time for a banana, energy drink and some chocolate. No too much or you will feel ill, but enough to replace lost salts and energy. During the race anything can go wrong. Each rider must carry spares to do emergency repairs. Generally duct tape, a selection of bolts and a good kick sorts most problems.

We would typically arrive back at the bivouac around 4pm. Although dead tired, this is when the maintenance work would start. All the damage of the day needs to be fixed before 6am the next day. At the very minimum this involves oil changes, filter changes and a general check over. At the worst, we’d have eight hours of serious work late in front of us.

Riders briefings must be attended by everyone at 7:30pm each evening. Here the dangers of the next day are discussed and any other important information passed across by the officials. The route for the next day is handed out in the form of the road book, which each of us spends an hour poring over, studying and marking for the next day.

And then, of course, comes another day �racing, falling and repairing �our routine for five days in the desert.

Looking back

The Desert Challenge is a test of endurance for both man and machine, but it is also about preparation and determination. All four of us from Oman managed to complete the race, a feat in itself as many riders and cars do not even make it to the finish.
The costs of racing are huge, and with the ever-increasing safety aspect (six helicopters were on standby at all times) the costs continue to rise. The top teams are on what appears to be limitless budgets, but we paid for everything ourselves. This makes preparation even tougher, done in between holding down professional and domestic commitments.

And this is why we do it: to test ourselves. To reach the top level of our sport and to finish an international world championship race. And to compete with our lifelong heroes on the same track.

We hope we helped promote the ability and seriousness of the sport in Oman. With our team finishing the rally successfully, without any penalties and all in one piece, we were taken seriously. Acquaintances were made and motorcycle shop owners from UAE, Sweden and the UK have been invited over to join the riders for weekend tours. Journalists from UAE, UK and even Australia expressed interest in where and how the desert skills were gained. It is hoped that not only have we achieved something for ourselves but also for Oman �which has given us the opportunity to pursue our sport to its fullest.