North Wales man's endurance challenge in Abu Dhabi

Dec 11 2008 by Judith Phillips, North Wales Weekly News

A FORMER Ysgol John Bright pupil is attempting one of the toughest endurance races in the world this weekend in the desert sands and the seas off Abu Dhabi on the Arabian Gulf.

London-based IT consultant Andy Wilson, 40, whose mum lives in Bryn Pydew, is leading his For Goodness Shakes adventure team in the six-day event which starts tomorrow (Friday).

The team of four will run, mountain bike, sea kayak and orienteer along a route more than 230 miles long, and includes dramatic coastal paddling between islands populated with rare animals, a 67-mile trek through the desert and finally some tough mountain running in the Jebel Hafeet.

Andy earned a sponsorship deal with For Goodness Shakes, which manufactures sports recovery drinks, in 2007 when he raced in the World Championships in Scotland, and since then has continued to be part of their elite team which also includes Olympians Bradley Wiggins and David Davies.

This success has helped secure it a free place to represent a website called Sleepmonsters in the Abu Dhabi race where they will line up against the best teams in the world to try to win a share of a $236,000 prize fund.

“This will be our first foreign race and is far longer than anything we’ve tackled before,” he said.

As part of their preparations for the race, the team has had a number of training camps in North Wales, kayaking in the Menai Strait and on the River Conwy, and hiking in Snowdonia.

All teams will be carrying GPS tracking devices so it will be possible to follow the team’s progress on the race website (www.abudhabi-adventure.com), where the race leaderboard will be updated daily, with further coverage on the Sleepmonsters website (www.sleepmonsters.co.uk).

judith.phillips