Administration / Scrutineering

Today was a busy day!

We arrived at Dubai international Marine Club at 08:00 am. The morning was consumed with carrying out all the administrative paperwork at the UAE Desert Challenge headquarters at the Le Meridien Mina Seyahi. It was necessary for the whole team to be present to ensure that all the entry forms were accurate and that the necessary insurance was in place for each rider (including permanent disability and death). It was a case of organized chaos – though credit to the organizers, once we got moving we were out of there pretty quickly.

In return we received our official race numbers and official sponsors stickers. Keep an eye out for the following competitors -

Name / No.
Jonathan Quan / 45
Paul Anselmo / 46
Sean Curnow / 47
Steve you / 48

Then it was off to Gecko motorcycles (who were also responsible for building our bikes) where scrutineering was being carried out for local motorbike riders. (The scrutineering for the foreign riders, cars and trucks is being carried out at the Le Meridien Mina Seyahi Hotel the following day).

Scrutineering: This is where race officials check that the bikes and riders kit comply with all the race regulations focusing primarily on all the necessary safety measures. All identification and official race advertising stickers must be in place on the machine when it is submitted to the scrutineers.

During scrutineering competitors must present the following equipment for inspection:
• Helmet & Riding kit
• GPS, Sentinel & Iritrack
• Signaling kit
• Additional water ration / Camelback
• Mobile telephone
• Medical kit (recommended but not compulsory)

Safety is the primary concern of the UAE Desert Challenge organization. All competitors riding kit especially the helmet is checked for safety. Each machine is also carefully inspected for mechanical safety and integrity.

We had a minor hiccup with the wiring on the bikes. Unfortunately they were setup for the newer version of the Iritrack System (which basically tells the race officials exactly where we are at anytime). However, when we received our Iritrack units we discovered they were the older version with two power cables (a primary and a backup). All credit to Gecko Motorcycles as they went about the business of rewiring all the bikes to accommodate the older type units.

The good news is we all passed the initial scrutineering.

The bikes were then loaded back onto the trailers and driven away ready for the final scrutineering session at the Dubai International marine Club primarily to check for noise and close out and issues that were identified today.

Speak to you tomorrow!

Please see our Photo Gallery for photos of the UAE Charity Challenge Team. These will be updated on a daily basis.