Halti Adventure Racing Team

2007
Dec 31		Abu-Dhabi photogallery updated The team just after finished in Al Ain. Photo: Anders Burman Now the photogallery from Abu-Dhabi is updated with a lot of pictures from Outside´s Anders Burman. Please enjoy and have a great new year!


Dec 14		Halti ended on a 12th place. The final day of Abu-Dhabi has now passed. Halti made a quite ok day, but struggled a bit in the mountains. Was strong on the mountainbikes and had third fastest time on the last 5km running stage. One of the ropesections on the final day. Photo: Fabrice Michalon /The Raid Todays section was: 24 km adventure running/mountain, 0,2km ropesection, 25 km adventure running, 22 km mountainbike, 5 km running. Adventure running on the ridges. Photo: Fabrice Michalon /The Raid The team are now staying at a hotel in Al Ain, and was looking forward a good night sleep in a bed, and to get a nice shower.


Dec 13		Strong performance by Halti today! Today the team made a really good stage. This day was a mountainbike day and the team set a high pace all from the beginning. They could not really keep up with the two teams in the lead, but came in the group behind them. Long into the stage Halti had some difficulties in a sand slope, and lost the two teams that were in their group, but still going hard to the finish, and ended this day on a total fifth place! Many times it was faster to run with the bikes in the soft sand. Photo: Fabrice Michalon /The Raid -"Yes, we are satisfied today, it was really warm at some points because there was no wind, but we kept a hard and steady pace, and it payed out good", says Robert Lindberg. Tomorrow will be the final day, and a lot can still happen. The diciplines tomorrow will be; adventure running/mountain running, ropeactivites, mountainbike and finish in the centre of Al Ain. Halti is feeling motivated for tomorrow! More info: www.outsideonline.se/blog http://www.multisport.se/ www.abudhabi-adventure.com


Dec 12		What an adventure... ”-It was a real adventure with the camel”, is Mikael Lindnord's summary of the day. Today's camel section has been chaotic. Camels have been tumbling down sand dunes, screaming, refusing to walk and been running away with teams' equipment... Mattias with the little camel Photo: Anders Burman “-We got a really small camel, and at the first sand dune it had problems to come up, so the camelkeeper had to come and help it up. Not long after that, we were up on a ridge and was supposed to walk down a steep of 75 meters, but it also refused to walk. This time a camelkeeper came and pulled the little camel down the sand slope, sliding on its back. After that we got another camel, that was bigger and faster, but after a while it didn't want to continue anymore. The organisation sent out a helicopter with a camelkeeper who helped us and the teams around us getting back to the camp." Almost every team have had big problems with today's section, so the race organisation has removed this section. It just counts as a transport section, which is most fair for all teams. Sand, sand and more sand... Photo: Fabrice Michalon /The Raid Halti have been preparing for tomorrow, and are now sleeping. They are all feeling fine. The start will be at 09.00 and a biking stage of 54 km (should have been 110km, but after the really long camel day the organisation decided to make a shorter day tomorrow) More info at: www.multisport.se www.outsideonline.se/blog www.abudhabi-adventure.com


Dec 11		The Desert! Team Halti has today finished the 87km long desert adventure running stage. It was very long and took the teams about 17 hours from start to finish, more or less running. The desert stage has been really hard on the racers, the sand doesn´t give you any rest at all. The teams set an incredible high speed right from the start. Foto:Fabrice Michalon /The Raid To the second CheckPoint, Halti arrived on second place. They have had a really good pace during the most of the stage, but have been struggling a bit harder on the second half. They have now arrived to the desert camp and will get some food and sleep, before the race starts again tomorrow morning at 07.00. On the 87 km desert adventure running stage, the organisation had put out extra checkpoints, that would give the teams extra bonus time if they were fast enough to take them. Team Halti manage to take all of them! Team Halti is running together with Orionhealth.com Foto:Fabrice Michalon /The Raid Tomorrow the teams will head out on a 40km long desert section, togheter with the teams "fifth member" - the camel. The camel will just be used as a transport of gear, food and water, it´s forbidden to ride on it. They say that the camel will be a good help for the teams to find good paths though the desert. We hope that Halti will get a good one, that are willing to co-operate! Three days have passed, only three more days to go! More info: www.multisport.se www.outsideonline.se/blog www.abudhabi-adventure.com


Dec 10		Long and hard kayak section! Team Halti has now ended the 118km kayak section. Today was a very hard day on the water with waves so high, so the team couldn´t see the other team kayak at some points, and the wind was also very strong. - Sometimes when we just stopped paddling for a second, the kayak directly stoped, I think that we paddled about 2km/hours some times, the headwind was so strong, says Robert Lindberg. The view was the same all the time, everywhere you looked flat and sand, says Mattias Nyström. Photo: Fabrice Michalon / Theraid. The team has a good teamspirit, and are like the rest of the teams, feeling a bit tired from the paddling. They have now been transported to Liwa Oasis and the Beduincamp where they will eat, sleep, and recive the maps for tomorrows desert running. The start tomorrow, tuesday, will be at 07.00, and the stage will be about 40 hours in the desert. More news: www.multisport.se and outsideonline.se/blog


Dec 09		Good first day in Abu-Dhabi! The start went of at 10.00 this morning (with one hour delay) because of the fog. And when they finally set of, one of the other team´s kayak with sail had already started, without the team... so the organisation had to bring back the kayak and the teams had to make a new start, but very soon all teams paddled away in their kayaks. -" It was really tricky with the sails, we put them up, and took them down, and put them up again. But we are feeling fine and have done a good paddling so far", says Mikael Lindnord. Mattias Nyström paddling strong Photo: Fabrice Michalon / Theraid. The team is now staying together with around 14 other teams at CP7 on an Island. Both the other swedish teams Lundhags and FJS is also there. Halti have set up their tents and been eating and prepearing for tomorrow morning when at 06:00 they will all set off again for the second part of the section, eventually arriving in Mirfa. From there, they will be transferred to the Liwa Oasis and a traditional Bedouin camp, for food and rest, before taking on the desert on the adventure running phase of the race next morning. "-The heat was never a problem the wind on the water made it not so extremely warm", says Malin Lundvik. "-But tomorrow when we will start, we will face a difficult part when the water level will be very low". More about the race at: www.abudhabi-adventure.com and www.multisport.se and www.outsideonline.se/blog


Dec 08		12 hours to start of Abu-Dhabi Adventure Challenge Team Halti had a day with a lot of preperation, registration and opening cermonie. The kayaks with the sails is the big discussion of the day. Tomorrow morning at 09.00 local time, the race starts - the 6 days long expedition throug the sea, the dessert and the mountain. Team Halti is preperad and looking forward for a tough journey. The race is broadcasted live on the official webpage: www.abudhabi-adventure.com and on www.multisport.se for swedish visitors. Team Haltis line up at Abu-Dhabi; Malin, Robert, Ahmed Hussien, Mikael and Mattias. Photo: Anders Burman


Dec 07		The team has arrived, almost! Abu-Dhabi - everywhere brand new majestics buildnings. Yesterday, Mattias, Robert and Mikael arrived to Dubai Airport with all the gear! And then went 150km with a truck to Abu-Dhabi, and to the hotel where the registration will take place. Malin will arrive later today, directly to Abu-Dhabi from Oslo. Today the team have been shopping, food, drinks and also found some good accesories to have in the desert. They have also prepeard everything for tomorrows registration. We will get more info from the team after the registration, and then we also get more info about the race. Team Halti has made an intervju before the race at: www.multisport.se (only in swedish)


Nov 27		Next up, Abu-Dhabi! Abu-Dhabi adventure challenge will take place from the 9th-14th December. Team Halti is well prepared and are ready to start. The lineup will be: Teamcaptain Mikael Lindnord, Mattias Nyström, Robert Lindberg and Malin Lundvik. Miles after miles with enormus tons of sand... Abu-Dhabi adventure will be held during 6 days/stage race. The first day, will start with a whole day of kayak paddling, and during the night the team has to stop for 6 hours at any CP next to the shore, depending how far they have come. Day 2 will continue with kayakpaddling. Day 3 and 4 will be in the desert, a stage of totally 30 hours were the team must sleep for at least 6 hours. The stage has except the course CP, that the teams must take to still be in the race, certain CP´s that will give the team extra bonus depending on how many the teams manage to take. The team will also during this stage have a "fifth member" in the team, a Camel. Not to use to ride on, just for carry bags and water. Day 5 is a mountainbike day. The sixth and last day, will consist of adventure running, rope-section and mountainbike. The team can expect really warm weather +35 degrees Celsius during days, and +6 degrees Celsius during the nights. The fifth team-member that will be part of the team many hours in the desert. -We are travelling from -15 degrees Celsius, to be racing in the warmest and driest desert, so that will be exciting. The format on the race is also very unique when the race is six stages and every stage contains only one discipline, for example we start two full days with only kayak paddling. The competition is superhard, but we will do our best and go as hard as we can, and hopefully that will give us a good result, says teamcaptain Mikael Lindnord. We will follow the team as much as possible on teamhalti.com to keep you updated, during the race. More news will also be published on Multisport.se More about the race: www.abudhabi-adventure.com