I have spent my life playing sports. A product of the American Midwest, my youth is best remembered as an athletic menagerie of freshwater lakes, kayaks, canoes, cliffs, campsites, forests and fields of grass as green as any gracing the Irish countryside.

I grew up playing organized football – the proper ‘football’, not the American bastardization of the beautiful game – basketball, tennis, golf and whatever else I could do. I have splished and splashed in a good percentage of Minnesota’s 10,000 lakes, traversed the tributaries of the mighty Mississippi and camped, climbed and competed in her pine forests for most of my life.

After a short and, frankly, forgettable stint in Tokyo, I find myself in Dubai – following my professional aspirations and always searching for my next athletic endeavour. What I didn’t know when I arrived in 2007, was that the self-styled playground for the rich and (in)famous plays host to a burgeoning endurance/adventure sports scene. And thus, we come to the purpose of this column.

From where I live in Dubai, it’s a 90-minute drive to Abu Dhabi and an hour’s drive to the Omani border. Between Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Muscat – each of which boasts its own grassroots ‘Triathlon Club’ – the resourceful endurance athlete can find at least one race every month of the year, but racing in the Middle East takes a bizarre level of commitment.

Triathletes in Oman are mad. They laugh in the face of searing summer temperatures and uncomfortably tepid seas. Average summer temps in the Gulf hover around 105° and include choking humidity, yet the Omani racers return, month in and month out.

As for the UAE, it boasts the richest marathon on the international circuit in Dubai’s Standard Chartered run (www.dubaimarathon.org) and Abu Dhabi is slowly gaining recognition among endurance athletes with the Abu Dhabi Adventure Challenge (www.abudhabi-adventure.com) and the new Abu Dhabi International Triathlon (www.abudhabitriathlon.com).

My point is this: Few readers would consider the Middle East a hotbed of endurance athletics but I’m telling you, things are happening. Things are moving in the right direction and I’m on the ground bringing it to you – as both spectator and participant.

The point of this column is to be your eyes and ears. Consider it your first resource for a first-person account of all things running, swimming, biking and bivouacking in the Middle East.

If I’m a bit lucky and a few things fall into place, I’ll also get to rub shoulders with and compete against – if only for that first minute off the line – with the Richard Usshers, Rich Rolls and Jason Lesters of the endurance world. In the mean time, if you have questions about endurance racing or training in the Gulf, feel free to email me at xtremejourno@gmail.com.