Wadi Bih: 72km Of Bonding, Brilliant Ideas, And Beet Juice

The Wadi Bih 72km ultramarathon takes place on the Musandam Peninsula in Oman on the first weekend of February, which brings an element of uncertainty to the weather conditions.

- David O'Hara

Last year, a hurricane washed out the dirt road in the wadi with rain, hail and even snow over the last couple hours, illustrating the need for ultrarunners to be self-sufficient and always be ready for the unpredictable. The 72km solo event is an out and back course, starting at 04:30 on the beach in Dibba and going 11km to the wadi, where things get tough with the unfinished rocky road before another 25km heading up the mountain to the turnaround.

04:30 Start in Darkness Late Thursday night, I drive to Wadi Bih with my running buddy, Alex (50km solo), and my wife, Olya (30km solo). After sleeping on the beach, we are up for the 04:00 briefing and start promptly at 04:30. We only have two working headlamps among the three of us and for some inexplicable reason, in a moment of solidarity, we all decide to run without headlamps. The key is to ‘buddy up’ with somebody who has a bright headlamp and try to follow them closely, which is how I meet Chris.

How Runners Bond

In the darkness just after the start, Chris and I start running side by side, with me pirating the illumination from his headlamp. As soon as it becomes clear that we are compatible runners, we begin chatting about the usual stuff: running, previous events (Chris and Alex finished one minute apart at last week’s Dubai Marathon), favourite running shoes, recent training runs, next run (Chris, Alex and I all run RAK Half Marathon next week), type of watch, today’s goal – topics which bond runners, regardless of background. Gradually, the stories turn into a series of my mishaps and other random philosophical tidbits with one overriding principle: What is discussed while running on trails, stays on the trails!

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