Introduction/Overview
The Tour of the Karakurrams International Mountainbike Stage Race was organized by the Kaghan Memorial Trust (KMT) in partnership with Federal Ministry of Tourism and was the first of its kind in Pakistan.
Khurram Khan, the managing trustee, and another three trustees, Syed Junaid Ali Qasim, Kashif Khawaja, and Lauren Mueenuddin formed the KMT.
The Tour of the Karakurrams mountainbike race will promote tourism and will benefit the victims of the devastating Earthquake which occurred on the 8th of October 2005.
All funds generated from this race will proceed to the Kaghan Memorial Trust for setting up a school at Kawai, near the town of Balakot. Balakot and the surrounding villages were in worst affected area of the earthquake.
To read more about how you can help Earthquake victims go to the KMT website:- www.kmt.org.pk. It is possible to contribute to the Trust in many different ways.
The Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) and Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) co-sponsored the event.
Munawar Baseer Ahmad, Managing Director SSGC paid rich tributes to the riders for their contribution in a purely humanitarian cause. He also thanked the KMT for arranging such a unique event, which will go a long way in the promotion of national tourism and raising awareness of on-going work to reconstruct the area destroyed by the Earthquake.
Ten teams participated in this international cycle race, each comprising of three riders. In all 31 semi/professional and 15 amateur international male and female cyclists from Australia, Canada, Germany, China, Ireland, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Scotland, UK and USA took part in the event.
My experience:-
Before leaving the UK for Islamabad I managed to spend a couple of days staying in Manchester city centre after my airline tickets vanished from my Uncle's house in Scotland while I was away racing in Northern Ireland (coming second to Irish Champion, Robin Seymour for the third year in a row!).
I had to leave without tickets and then did not quite manage to get onto the plane!
I took up residence at the Hatters Backpacker's Hostel near Piccadily station and was given a double bed on the top floor! Very nice place to base yourself for city centre lash. Couldn't wait to explore Manchester as it had been 4 or 5 five years since a lived there. Avoiding loud music and candy, I went out to an old man's pub with another hosteler and after three quick pints I felt like I had drunk ten teenage pints and I called it a night! As I left the pub the fellow hosteler said he was off to Bangkok, and as he walked off towards Canal Street I knew I made the right choice!
I waited two days and in order to get the next available flight. Pakistani Int Air were very good with my bike and the flight staff were charming. During the flight I must have re-kindled my curry eating habit because from there on it was curry all day everyday! I seemed to be fish out water on the flight - the only non-Muslim person on a 747. One guy I was talking to was rather cool and came out with the joke 'you must be the terrorist then'. Just as well I did not start muttering to myself in a broad Scottish accent!
Arriving in Islamabad I queued up with people from Afganistan and other nearby countries and had a non-verbal discussion about smoking and other things. I then rushed off to the loo to change my shorts to full length trousers!
Atif Khan greeted me at the port and we then drove to Khurram Khan's town house for a green tea stop. The race technical team arrived soon after me, I joined them and we set off for Kawai, Balakot and Naran. It took about 2-3 hours to reach Balakot
Pakistan is not familiar with mountainbike racing; this was a first for them and they did such a great job. One of the many good things about the race was they were free to use any land available. If the weather and altitude permitted us to race in reasonable safety we would race. This meant it was a dream come true for the mountainbikers that had made the effort come to the race. I have to say that most of the field were not mountainbikers. This made the race very different; more relaxed and less competitive as compared with a normal race.
The town of Naran at 2500 metres was the competitiors and organisers base for the event.
Before, during and after the racing each day we were all being filmed by a Charlotte (from London) who is probably still editing footage many weeks after the event. She will be producing a DVD of the event and possibly a short programme for TV broadcast in various countries.
Before starting the stage race I managed to do a few thousand metres of climbing during the four days leading up to the race. Not wise, but alot of fun! I found myself up in mountain villages drinking tea, normally with all the members of a village. They kept me warm by grouping close together and giving me a wool blanket. They were very interested to see me on a bike at such an altitude and were really kind to me.
The day before stage one most of the riders climbed for 2 hours on a jeep track to quite a height (around a 1200 metre climb with peak at 3500 metres) and my legs were ruined from that day. As I never use a granny ring I was probably making things hard for myself. Tim Vincent decided not to do the climb as his knees were still sore from the World 24-hour Champs which he had won 10 days or so before.
Full race results can be viewed on www.kmt.org.pk
Stage one, Naran to Saiful Maluk and around the lake twice:-
For the first day of racing we left the town and climbed to Lake Saiful Maluk....One thousand altitude metres of jeep track climbing to the lake and then two laps of course around the lake on what was very often a very rocky path with sections of glacier to cross. The course was designed by Marty Krieg, my Australian room-mate.
Tim Vincent (NZ) won the stage and his fellow country man Andy Reid took third. Andy is the current N.Z. TT champ and a former CWG and OG competitor. I trailed in to take second place. I was surprised to come second as I was exhausted from the climb the day before and was slowing rapidly.
Beth McCluskey (IRL) won the ladies clearly from Britta Martin (GER) and Francis Helling-Linthorst (NED) came third.
Stage two, Jalkhad to the Babusar Pass and return to Jalkhad:-
I took 1st position in men’s individual event in a time of 3 hrs, 33 minutes and 22 seconds. Tim Vincent, The 24 hour World Champion finished second with 3:46:02, and Andy Reid (New Zealand) took 3rd in a time 3:52:09. Tim was leading the race when he over-shot the turn-around point on the course. This was very annoying as it meant the race was not a true test of legs. I eventually found out I was leading and was not second as I thought....I had been going full out to catch Tim and then started to think I was not on the right course as I could not see his tracks - it had truned into Wacky Races. Once I knew I was leading I started to pedal as if there was to stage the next day. I knew every second counted and Tim would be close behind and possibly catching me. I came in 13 mins before him. There is no telling what the true gap was.
In the Women’s individual event Elizabeth McClusky (Ireland) took 1st place, while Britta Martin (Germany) took second and Leda Cox (UK) 3rd place Britta came in hand in hand with Beth at 4:41:47 and Leda's time was 5:06:08. Leda made up time today and enjoyed the longer stage I think. Leda was far less familiar with this type of terrain and racing and did a great job considiring she races the road. She couldn't believe the weight of her fully-suspended bike!
Stage three, Naran to Kawai:-
Before the final stage the ladies race seemed more clear cut. Beth McCluskey had a lead of just over 6 minutes on Britta Martin and it was going to hard for Britta to make up that time unless something went wrong with Beth's ride.
Strangely, Beth's tyre and tube exploded just before the start time but it was fixed pretty quick. Just before that Tim Vincent's tyre was about to blow but he saw the tube coming through the tyre and patched the tyre double quick.
I had around ten minutes lead on Tim Vincent going into the final stage and around twenty minutes on Robin Reid and with the stage only being only 100-110 minutes long you would think the race was decided.
BUT...
I decided to eat something that disagreed with me and the the night before and then thought it would be nice to stay up all night and throw-up every bit of food that exsisted within me (and other end trouble too of course) . I was absolutely wrecked and just thought how can I race in this state.
To make matters worse Charlotte and her film crew had arranged the night before to visit my kabana at 7.30 am to film me getting out of bed, getting dressed and getting ready for the race etc.
If I raced it was going to be a very interesting stage.
I called for the doctor and he came and went before Charlotte came knocking. God knows what he gave me. Some pills...I think he said some caffine and something to settle stomach; I wasn't listening too well.
Having the useful pressure of having to act out getting up and getting ready for a race I did got up! If it wasn't for Charlotte I would have stayed in bed. I dithered around for a good while purposefully ignoring Charlotte who was hiding in various places in and out of the room trying to stay out of shot.
All the racers congregated near the hotel. I could hardly walk straight, but had to make regular trips to el bano and found my head slumping onto my handlebars as I straddled my bike waiting for what I knew was going to be hell even though I had a ten minute lead
The race was only 60km or so but on and off-road, going down the valley, but with up hill sections. The Earthquake had ruined most of the road's surface and with land slides also it was a road race that had to done on a MTB. As soon as the gun went the Kiwis sent most of their men up the road with Tim Vincent and the Dutch man Remko Kramer joined them.
Beth didn't have too much trouble winning overall but it was Birgit Schnapp(GER) that convincely won the stage.
Second place went to Francis Helling-Linthorst(NL) and one second behind came Beth in third with Britta Martin twenty seconds later. In the GC Beth was six minutes clear of Britta(GER) and Leda Cox of England taking third overall. Impressive ride by Leda who was racing in an alien sport.
Remko Kramer(NL) deservedly won the mens stage a few seconds clear of Nathan Dahlberg(NZ) with Tim Vincent(NZ) finishing on Nathan's wheel.
I dragged myself to finish line and for the last 5 km I was trying to stay with Birgit Schnapp and Bas Hermsen(NL). I couldn't stay with Bas but he gave me some much needed water for what was quite a hot day. I was weaving around on the road quite a bit (luckily it was closed to public vehicles) and had pins and needles building up in the whole of my upper body.
I crossed the line, made a bee-line for the water bottles, then lay down on the road in pain; this is where I lay until I was moved onto a bed and then stretchered off to a tent where I recovered, shivering under blankets and in pain, with some intelligent hydration. Many thanks to Suzanne Forman from England and Matt Usborne from BC, Canada for sorting me out. They were both qualified in medical practices luckily for me.
Eventually I found out I had managed to hold onto my lead and had won overall. I couldn't believe that and was more interested in recovering than winning races. The presentation and ground breaking ceremony for the school to be built came next. The finish of stage three was at the site of the new school's foundations. A plaque was unveiled for the school and presentations made. Lots of media organisations had come and the Minister for Tourism made and address. Three days of very well organised racing. Food was cooked for us each day at the finish line area, tents with mats for changing, and medical services on-site. Great effort was put in to this race for us all.
The next day was spent recovering at Khurram Khan's lakeside house and grounds where we were treated to water skiing, kayaking, archery, swimming, music and buffets. Really appreciated and great fun.
The next day we travelled to Islamabad and in the evening we were treated to more wonderful food and a press conference at a beautiful location overlooking Islamabad.
Then we all went to desert restaurant/cafe for ice cream. For the last three days I had hardly eaten anything and was still feeling not too good. After icecream, which I tried to eat, Beth was starting to feel ill - I think she got over the worst in 24 hours.
Time to fly home. The end of a great trip. I also managed to sleep through my train stop at Dundee and almost reached Aberdeen! Oh what fun.
Many thanks to all in Pakistan for such a great trip and let's hope the race goes ahead next year. Photos to be added shortly.
Articles are copyrighted by their respective authors.