Karen Lundgren and Paul Romero, longtime co-captains of California-based adventure racing team SOLE, weren't on the list of registered teams for the Abu Dhabi Adventure Challenge, but I saw them in the lobby of the hotel last night. They came to race!

While Karen and Paul are the core members of team SOLE, it has been their custom to race with athletes whose skillsets match the requirements of each race. Here in Abu Dhabi, sea kayaking will be one of the disciplines that separate top teams from the rest of the field.

SOLE looked to South Africa, home to some of the paddling world's most iconic paddling events, like the Dusi, the Berg Marathon and the P.E. to East London. What SOLE found were two ringers ready to compete on the Persian Gulf. They are Chad Ulansky of Capetown, South Africa; annd Andre Gie from Knysna, South Africa.

Chad, who works for a natural resources company, travels frequently in the Middle East. His main project is in Northwest Yemen. Chad has raced with SOLE before, at both the Extreme Adventure Hidalgo in Mexico, and at the Wulong Outdoor Quest in China.

Gie, a medical doctor at the hosptial in his hometown of Knysna, has yet to race with SOLE, but he's certainly raced against them. Most recently he battled SOLE at the Ecomotion adventure race in Brazil.

SOLE's sudden arrival has caused a bit of a stir, at least among American teams. SOLE is known to be fast, and its presence here could well bump other US teams down in the final rankings.