Some of North America's best adventure racers will take on the sandy wilds of Abu Dhabi next month, where they'll compete in the second annual Abu Dhabi Adventure Challenge.

So far, American teams include Nike of Colorado and Idaho; DART-nuun of Washington state; and Crested Butte of Colorado.

Two more U.S. athletes were slated to compete on foreign teams, according to the Abu Dhabi Adventure Challenge website. Jay Henry will race with team Desert Islands of New Zealand. Julia Townsend, who was to compete with team Emerson of the United Arab Emirates, tells Checkpoint Zero she's unable to race due to injury, but will be on site to cheer for her team.