Wadi Bih Relay Run: Oman, 2011

Wadi Bih Run: Friday 11th February 2010

"The 19th Wadi Bih run was held on Friday the 11th of February 2011 – the longest (and most mountainous!) running & social event in the UAE expatriate calendar.

There was a weather scare the week before, when torrential rain hit the mountains and caused some flooding on the Dibba side with the road being washed out until the Saturday before the run. Fortunately the Omani road builders had the track back in reasonable condition, although further predictions of rain & dark clouds brewing prior to the event had the organizers fretting."

There were still dark clouds over the Hajar mountains as we arrived after the 2 hour drive from Dubai. Running through a wadi seemed like a great way to spend the day.

Team Schoolhouse Rock is ready to run!

Cat, Brian, Jeff, Marc, Tim

The key to any successful team relay race is to pack the trunk with more things than you can ever need for a one day road trip. Um, anyone seen my ipod? Where's the beef jerky? Salt and vinegar chips? Thanks to Brian for providing the wheels and the gatorade. 

The first solo leg took us through Dibba and out of town.

 The second leg was a 3.2 kilometer run up to the new dam outside town.

I was lucky enough to make this my first solo run of the day and had the honor of leading us off pavement to the start of the gravel trail through the wadi.

Up the wadi we climbed. The route followed Wadi Khabb Al Shamsi to just past the high point of the road and then reversed the route back to the beach to the Golden Tulip Hotel. The route was quite picturesque.

Tim, "lightning" Mills warms up. His fast total on 18km anchored the team.

Driving ahead, we could look back down at the path we were climbing.

Jeff, tackling the toughest leg of the run, climbs straight up the switch backs to the top lookout turning point. This is us zooming in on him running.

 This is the zoom out! Jeff's effort up the hill kept our halfway split just under 3 hours.

The boys thinking, 'thanks for doing this leg, Jeff.' Thanks to Marc as well, doing the long downhill after the halfway turn. My quads hurt just watching.

Goofing at the top after but 36 kilometers, I was happy to keep stretching. Only halfway?

Down we went, a bit faster thanks to gravity.

 The heat and the miles for each runner kept rising as the day wore on.

Here's a shot of me finishing a 4.2 km stretch and handing the team 29 baton to Marc. As you can see, some teams dressed in costume for the race!

"Despite the visits of Eric Clapton and Amy Winehouse to Dubai a total of 155 teams and 16 solo runners (twice as many solos's as last year) deserted the metopolis to provide a record turnout for the event."

"It's always been a traditional part of the event to come up with a novel or amusing team name and as always there were many clever, ingenious, cryptic, interesting and (some) less than 'clean' team names on offer. This year there seemed to be a proliferation of anal amusement with teams ; Got the runs, passing wind, peebledashing , The Wedgy B's...

Again we had some prizes for the most interesting/amusing name. It was very difficult for the judges to come up with some clear winners but after very little deliberation and a less than rigorous analysis the awards were given to:

Pisto's Plastered Peak Performing Perambulators and Gently Rolling Hills My Arse."

The School House Rock cruised into 28th place and 5 hours, 55 minutes later, we had our reward:

Thanks for the quoted text from John Young, one of the organizers. See you next year.