The UAE National team of Dubai took top honours in the inaugural running of the Barbican Arabian Quest eco-adventure race in Ras Al Khaimah.

The first race of the series brought together over 100 participants eager to climb, rappel and mountain bike the Ras Al Jebel. Funds raised through the race will go to the World Wide Fund for Nature office in Dubai.

UAE team captain, Ali Al Khaja, said: "It was hard but we gave it our best and finished in two hours 30 minutes. I hope to come back for the next race in January with more teams."

The all women's Barbican Arabian Quest Extreme title saw an exhausted but happy finish for team "Cinda & Jo".

The all-female team Superio, composed of a Filipina and a Norwegian, led the pack and finished ahead of many all male teams.

Elaine Superio said, "We kept going all the time and didn't think about who was behind us. We were really surprised when we finished first, we though all other female teams might have been ahead of us."

Exhilarated team member Cinda Plowman exclaimed, "Carrying the mountain bike uphill was challenging; we didn't have kind thoughts for the organiser of the race at that time."

Ras Al Khaimah residents and brothers, Chris and Ian Gregory, smashed records with their win in the all-male Barbican Arabian Quest Extreme category.

"We went to bed early last night and this helped a lot! We loved the fact that there were different sports at each stage, climbing, ropes, biking and hiking, it made the event great fun," exclaimed Ian Gregory.

"This was a great success, everyone enjoyed themselves and came back down safely," said John Falchetto, founder of the series.

"I think for the first edition, the race was overwhelmingly well balanced including a contrast between fast and slow segments, trekking and biking, pain and joy. All the contestants who took place came back tired but exhilarated and this was a big plus for us."

Cycling up Wadi Haqeel for more than 15 kilometres, challengers then swapped their bikes for running shoes to race across loose rocks and varied hilly terrain to checkpoint Summit, which was the turn-around point for most contenders.

The race was sponsored by Polar watches, Sport in Life, and AMEINFO.