Pleased to announce that from today, 1 Feb, Professional Sports Group (PSG), who I have been working with for 3 years on the sponsorship and PR of my last two expeditions, will be managing all of my commercial interests henceforth.

Founded by ex-IMG Jamie Cunningham in 1996, Professional Spports Group is now one of the leading sports marketing companies in Europe and the Middle East comprising four divisions: events, communications, representation and sponsorship.

As part of the representation division I am honoured to be part of a group of athletes and broadcasters, including 4 times Olympic rowing champion Mathew Pinsent, diver Tom Daley, trathletes Alistair and Jonathon Brownlee and All Black rugby legend Sean Fitzpatrick, amongst many others.

PSG will be managing bookings for both my speaking engagements and my leadership and team development programmes as well as continuing to manage the PR and sponsorship of my forthcoming expeditions. For more details see: www.profsports.com

5 weeks on from completeing the journey and its back into full and frenetic swing in the UAE - and not stopping.

For the many people who have asked and for those who weren't aware, I am presently in the thick of writing the book of the journey - always part of the plans and hopefully to be published by June. The only problem is finding time to do that writing. I hope it will be an interesting journal.

We are planning an exhibition in the UAE to accompany the launch of the book.

The film of the expedition is presently being edited by Two Four in the UK and will be out for broadcast in April or May earliest. Channels not confirmed yet but it will be broadcast Worldwide.

My reflections on the trip 5 weesk on are what an incredibly special and unique experience it was. Unique in that in 15 years of living in the region I have never been emersed so deeply in the beduin way of life as I did these 44 days - and never will again. Saeed and Ghafan are like brothers now, Ahmed and Sultan our support crew like cousins. I trust we will be friends forever.

Acknowledgements will appear in the book, film and exhibition, but would like to take this opportunity to thank those who made it happen here and now:

HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan
HH Sheikh Hamddan bin Zayed Al Nahyan
Abu Dhabi Culture and Heritage
Abu Dhabi Media
Professional Sports Group
Motivate Publishing
Thuraya
Oman Abela
Two Four Productions
Wouter Kingma
General Hamad Mohammed Thani Al Rumaithi. COS UAE Armed Forces
General Andy Pillar, UAE Armed Forces
Lt Col Mike Nott, UAE Armed Forces
Border Ghard, UAE Armed Forces
Oman Ministry of Tourism
Oman Ministry of Information
Border Guard, Royal Army of Oman
Sheikh Khaled bin Tufl Al Kathiri
Saeed Mahad
Richard Simmons
Salalah Hospital
Ahmed Hamdan Al Kambashi
Sultan Hilal Al Shaadi
Rebecca Tierney
Charles Jones and the staf at California Chirpractic Clinic
Our Omani riders - Mahmoud, Mohammed, Rashid, Haithem and Abdullah
And all the Sheikhs, leaders, and peoples we met on the incredible journey

Back to civilization after our 44 days and 1600 kms crossing of the Arabian Desert - a very special and unique experience indeed, which, though faced with numerous challenges, will be treasured forever.

Will write more over next few weeks, but for those who wish to see some stunning pictures taken on the journey please visit my facebook page - or through the direct link to the pictures at:

http://www.facebook.com/#!/media/set/?set=a.269693503066861.59580.127720093930870&type=3

Best
Adrian

After a frenetic and challenge filled last week, we finally set off tomorrow on our 1500 km re-inaction expedition of Wilfred Thesiger's first crossing of the Arabian Desert. I feel a bit amazed that we are actually at the start line - the challenges have been enormous just getting to this point. regardless of what face on the journey and they are still not over, but we are heading off anyway

I am frankly exhausted and can't wait to leave the sensitivities, problems and diplomacy behind along with my Blackberry and live the simple life of a desert nomad for the next 2 months.

Anyone wishing to follow progress (which our film crew will be sending) can do so on the following:

Facebook: www.facebook.com/adrianmhayes
Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/adrianhayes/
Exoed Website: link on left but www.footstepsofthesiger.com

Best regards

It's been an idea for nearly 20 years since I served on secondment to the Sultan of Oman"s Armed Forces in Salalah in the 90s; taken 2 years of detailed planning with infinate challenges; and I'll only believe it's 100% happening when I mount my camel in 3 weeks' time, but the "Footsteps of Thesiger" expedition and project has finally been officially announced.

The expedition is a re-inaction of the journeys of late British Explorer Wilfred Thesiger, otherwise known as Mubarak Bin London, who crossed the Arabian Desert (Empty Quarter or Rub Al Khali) twice between 1945 and 1950 with his two Bedu companions, Salim bin Kabina and Salim bin Ghubaisha of the Rawashid tribe.

Our expedition will also comprise of one Brit and 2 x bedu - myself together with Saeed Al Mesafry and Ghafan Al Jabri, who were selected from a trawl of nominations in June.

We aim to closely follow the route of Thesiger's first crossing of the Empty Quarter, travellig by foot and camels from Salalah in Oman to Abu Dhabi in the UAE, via the Empty Quarter of Oman, Liwa and Al Ain - a distance of over 1500 kms, commencing 30th Oct 2011 and finishing approx 45 days later.

The expedition and accompanying TV documentary, filmed by award winning documentary makers TwoFour Productions from the UK, has 3 pillars as follows:

* A historical look at Thesiger and his travels
* The modern day re-inaction expedition’s journey and challenges
* The culture, heritage and changing lives of the Bedu of the deserts of Oman and the UAE.

There are no records, no longest, quickest, highest, furthest attempts on this journey and it's not even a first - Canadians Bruce Kirkby and Jamie and Leigh Clark admirably did this in 1999 with 3 Bedu guides and 12 camels for which I take my hat off for their even managing to even get to the start line! Our objective, not least mirrored in the make-up of the team, is to attempt the journey with a much smaller party and authentic means of travel integral to Thesiger's journey's as much as physically possible.

It is a totally different desert and World in 2011 than it was in the 1940s, of course and that is part of the objective of the documentary and book which I am presently writing.

And finally, on the subject of integrity, I am not claiming to do this for any charity, the environment or any other cause. It's a commercial historical re-inaction through and through which I both love doing and is part of my job. My quest and work on economic, social and environmental sustainability continues unabated, but this expedition isn't directly part of that cause.

Many thanks to Abu Dhabi Culture and Heritage and Abu Dhabi Media Company for making this happen and to the Ministires of Tourism and Information Oman for their partnership on the project. More thanks and news to follow shortly.

Flattered that our Greenland expedition is prominently featured in the 2012 Guinness World Records just out, complete with one of Derek Crowe's great pictures of me kite skiing across a slushy Greenland ice sheet.

The 67 day journey that Devon McDiarmid, Derek and myself undertook in 2009 the full length - and across the top - of the Greenland ice cap without any resupplies covered a distance (point to point) of 3120 kms. It was recognized by Guinness last year as the Arctic's longest unsupported snow-kiting journey to date.

Whilst an entry in the book is always rewarding, integrity is even more important to me and on this expedition and record there are a few things we have continually stressed as follows;

- The record is for the longest unsupported kite skiing journey in the Arctic, not the Antarctic. Rune Gjeldnes' 2005/06 "Longest March" across Antarctica remains the longest unsupported kite-assisted journey to date in all polar regions.

- The 3120 kms was, like Rune, achieved using kites, thus a different type of expedition than walking only for which fellow Britons Alex Hibbert and George Bullard hold the record fot their 2008 unsupported walk across and back Greenland.

- This was the second unsupported full vertical crossing of the Greenland ice cap, however the first (of Rune Gjeldnes again and Torry Larson in 1996) completed virtually the full length of the entire island, mountains and fjords of the South and North included.

We have always given Rune and Torry maximum promotion for their amazing achievement including a mention in the documentary of our expedition and Rune remains for me one of the greatest polar explorers of all time.

Finally, as I unexpectedly have two entries in the new book - the second for my "3 Poles" achievement of 2006/07 - just to state, as have before and do continually, that this record was beaten last year by Eric Larsson who completed all three poles in less than a year, a remarkable achievement also. Guinness have a long lead time so I hope Eric gets his due reward next year.

These clarifications aside, all of them are far more worthy entries than many of the barmy records - the most pancakes eaten in one hour and so on – that do exist in the book!

And though the book only comprises a small percentage of the vast number of records that Guinness award and hold, it is very pleasing that this year they have included a double page polar section which recognizes many (though not all) of the great achievements at the top and bottom of our World.

As England's rugby players face the wrath of negative headlines for going on an alcohol binge at the Rugby World Cup just days after an unconvincing win over Argentina, I recall a fascinating conversation with New Zealand 7s coach Gordon Tietjens a few years ago.

Sitting next to Tietjens at the New Zealand Ball a few days after the Kiwis had won the Dubai Rugby 7s for the umpteenth time, I noticed none of the players were drinking alcohol and curiously asked him the reason. "We don't let em" was his abrupt reply. "Everyone agrees and signs up to team agreements at the beginning of the season, which all of them agreed no alcohol. Anyone who breaks it is out".

We then went on to discuss the strict nutritional regime he has the players on to maximize their performance. It seems to have worked. Rugby 7s teams are the all-round fittest sportsmen on the planet, in my view, combining speed, strength, endurance and stamina like no other sport, including the 15s version of the game. And New Zealand are the fittest of the fittest; Tietjens the most successful coach in the sport by miles. A passionate and strict nutritionist like myself, Tietjens knows just what an edge can be gained from eating the very best there is - and avoiding rubbish. Alcohol falls into the latter category, a poison that the liver goes overboard to counteract; that de-hydrates, impairs metabolic function, muscle coordination and so on.

Whilst I enjoy a drink a couple of times a week and don't begrudge anyone else who drinks far more, when I'm in peak training for an expedition, fitness challenge, ironman or whatever, it's not rocket science to state that any more than this would handicap my training and performance. Massive alcoholic binges don't even enter the equation. All sportsman competing at the highest levels knows this too (apart from many professional soccer players it seems). So just what were England's rugby players thinking of when they embarked on a drinking spree at the Rugby World Cup, the pinnacle of their careers requiring performance at the very top of their game? You tell me. Or maybe the England Management team can....

Adventurer Ben Thackway has bravely blogged what many in the adventure World have been increasingly heaving heavy sighs in recent years - exaggerated or false claims over polar expedition achievements.

The Top Gear 'North Pole' episode a few years ago was as engaging as it was hilarious. Loved it. Yet few people watching Jeremy Clarkson continually proclaim they were "on the way to the North Pole" know that the team never got anywhere near the geographic North Pole, the top of our World. Instead they drove to the Magnetic North Pole, the area of magnetic field in the Northern Hemisphere to which all compasses point. Well, actually, not even the real magnetic north pole, but the 1996 location of it. The Mag NP is a moving point, in fact moving faster than ever, averaging 55 kms a year and is now located well into the Arctic Ocean - an infinitely harder proposition to reach than when it was in the Canadian mainland back in 96. Which is why all 'Magnetic North Pole' expeditions, including Jock Wishart's recent heavily publicized row by boat to the Pole - the subject of Thackway's blog - go to this 96 location.

The Geographic North Pole, the very top of our World, never moves, though the 1-2 mtrs of ice of the Arctic Ocean that covers it does - far faster than many people know or imagine. Reaching this non-descript landmark on Earth, however, is possible by a number of ways. The Russian Barneo ice base - a temporary tented camp and ice runway set up 100 kms from the pole for a month every year - provides a convenient base for a few hundred adventurers, adventure tourists, scientists and suchlike to visit the high Arctic every April, the majority of whom undertake 7-8 day 'last degree' journeys to the pole. Many others with enough cash to spare simply flying there.

Suffice to say that walking all the way to the Pole from the Canadian or Russian mainlands is a very different proposittion.

Apart from the distances covered, travelling unsupported or supported (ie using re-supplies by drops from Aircraft), using dogs, snowmobiles or kites all greatly change the nature of polar expeditions, Arctic or Antarctic, as well as whether they are guided or unguided. In short they aren't the same beast.

So what's the problem? And does it matter whether someone goes to the 1996 mag pole or actual north pole? Flies in, treks 7 days or 60 days? Does it matter that 99% of the public don't know the difference?

To me, not at all. It's about the journey, not the destination first of all. And everyone has to start somewhere with many people never having the funding - or the physical capabilities - to do an all the way exped. To demean any of these adventures is somewhat self-righteous.

When it comes to perceived inflated claims, however, this does seem to be an increasing trend. It's nothing new of course, dating from the days of Cook and Peary's false (in most experts' opinion) pronouncements of reaching the North Pole in 1908/09. Today it's a fact of the business of adventure that sponsors require return on investment which means media exposure. And as such there is, unfortunately, a tendency - be it from sponsors, PR agents, the media or sometimes individuals themselves - for being 'economical with the truth' at rhe very least.

The issue Ben Thackway states is this undermines real huge achievements and achievers and, in an increasingly difficult World of obtaining sponsorships, making serious expeditions all the more difficult to fund. I agree, though as many have learned to their cost, in today's interconnected World it's hard to keep the truth from eventually coming out.

What's the lesson in all this? A simple word called integrity.

And, no matter what people claim, we all know who the real greats in the Polar World are. And I, for one, both constantly refer to them nor have any pretentions at being amongst their ranks.

I've been banging my head on the table for this for a few years now; how do we recover from a World economy that is in a deep crisis? And detach ourselves from this relatively recent phenomenan called growth, which rules our entire economical thinking and planning.

Growth rules our lives. In simplistic terms it provides increasing income to from company expansions, who hire more people to do this work, who then, along with their companies, pay greater taxes to governments, who then build more roads, schools and hospitals, who then need more companies to this work. And so on. All very nice, but built on a level of borrowing and debt way beyond our economic, social and environmental means. Which, as we all know, has come crashing down to Earth. The problem is that, unlike 2008, there is little we can do to get out of this fix with such chronic levels of debt and our total reliance on the G word.

Sustainability advocates such as myself have been preaching from the pulpit that everything we do in our economies will have an affect on society and the environment. And vice vice versa. This is what sustainability is. In example terms, read into the linkages between living beyond our means, debt levels, high unemployment, growing levels of inequality, peak oil and resource depletion, dependance on oil, food and water shortages, declining happiness. And a lot more. Everything has an affect somewhere on something else.

Many highly respected ecomomists are now doubting our ability to recover from this present crisis in our old ways of thinking and stressing the need for a new ecoomic model which takes into account these linkages. Better brains than me are working overtime designing it, I'm just passionately promoting it! And I hasten to add, this is not some leftist agenda, but now essential mainstream politics.

The good news is that out of every crisis is an opportunty and this is no exception. There is a golden opportunity - and with the total interlinkages of World ecomomies, a necessity - to get out of this mess we have created.

Prosperity without growth is something we can indeed all look forward to. It just requires real leadership from the top, real change from the top to the bottom, and the bringing out from under the carpet all those "uncomfortable truth" issues that have been denied or swept away.

For how we can possibly do this, please read an excllent article at http://www.monbiot.com/2011/08/22/out-of-the-ashes/

Here's to a prosperous future - without growth!

Amidst the chaos in our World right now, Lao Tzu, a 6th century chinese seer, seemed to have it pretty spot on 1500 years ago:

If there is to be peace in the world,
There must be peace in the nations.
If there is to be peace in the nations,
There must be peace in the cities.
If there is to be peace in the cities,
There must be peace between neighbors.
If there is to be peace between neighbors,
There must be peace in the home.
If there is to be peace in the home,
There must be peace in the heart.

Lao Tzu