JEDDAH, 10 December 2004 — The Arab team representing the Middle East achieved honorable results in Red Bull Giants of Rio competition that gathered 80 teams of international Olympic champions from over 40 countries. The Arab team ranked 36th in the general classification and 2nd in the sand run category.
On Sunday (Dec. 5), the greatest challenge was resisting to the burning Brazilian sun and the heat of Rio beaches that reached 37 degrees C when the swimmers started competing in the first category at 11 a.m.. During 1.5 hrs, Mansoor Abulhoul fought the waves of the Atlantic Ocean before handing over to his Lebanese teammate, Maxime Chaaya, who was participating in the mountain biking category. These two categories were extremely difficult since the physical and moral pressure was at its peak due to the fierce completion between the contestants, who were all trying to achieve good results and take a comfortable lead from the beginning. The heat was almost unbearable and constituted an additional source of pressure.
During the mountain biking competition, Maxime Chaaya fell and damaged his bike, while he suffered from slight injuries, which delayed him significantly. Despite this accident, Chaaya was able to maintain the team’s position in the general classification as it was following Abulhoul’s performance in the beach break swimming competition. But problems were unfortunately not over. The weather changed drastically and the wind fell, which made it extremely difficult to control the hang-glider. Laurent Thevenot (France) was the skilled Arab team member participating in the speed hang gliding category. He succeeded in improving the team’s position in the general classification by ranking 32nd before 78 contestants.
The greatest surprise of all was Lahcen Ahansal, the Moroccan runner and team member. Although he started racing 1 hour later than the leading runners, he was able to pass 30 runners, one after the other, in the narrow streets and sand beaches of Rio. Ahansal ranked 2nd in the sand running category after he arrived only 13 seconds behind the winner. Thanks to his performance, the Arab team improve its final classification and ranked 36th before 78 teams who crossed the finish line after approximately five hours of fierce competition.
“I’m very pleased with my performance and with the team’s result in general. I competed against international champions and had a good advance in the swimming category, knowing that the other contestants were professionals and practice on a daily basis, unlike us. We are amateurs and are thus considered to have achieved very good results”, said Mansoor Abulhoul (UAE). Maxime Chaaya also emphasized on the professionalism of the leading teams. “I was competing against an Olympic champion, a MB world champion and other European and American champions who had participated in the last Olympic Games. It was a difficult task. I made every possible effort — like the other team members — to achieve an honorable result for the Arab countries. I believe that we were able to do that despite the problems we faced, especially after I fell and damaged my bike,” he said.
As for Ahansal, he indicated that the sand run distance was “short”: “I am used to running daily over long distances of more than 80 km. The 20 km of the competition were not enough to distance the other contestants by far. When I felt I was in the peak of my performance, the competition was about to end.” He added: “What is great about this event is the unique gathering of athletes and spectators that gave a nice touch to a hard competition that required a lot of physical efforts, strength and concentration from all of the team members who had to fight themselves and the nature. It is indeed a great event in which I was very happy to participate along with all of the members of the Arab team that represents the Middle East.”
This unique first-time event that was organized in Brazil gathered the world’s top athletes in a relay race that included four different sports, which are rarely grouped in one single competition. Brazil — the hosting country — was represented by 30 teams among which five ranked between the top ten in the general classification. The general classification of the leading teams: 1- Australia No. 4 04:27:41; 2- Brazil No. 8 +30 seconds; 3- Austria No. 6 +01:10 sec; 4- Brazil No. 9 +06:08 sec; 5- USA No. 77 +11:37 sec.
