Sean Hurley is so synonymous with Jebel Ali Dragons and the Dubai Rugby Sevens, that a year after hanging up his boots he wanted to be as far away from all the fanfare and excitement as possible – although nearly 9,000km seems pretty drastic.
While his clubmates go for glory at one of the most popular sporting events on the UAE calendar this weekend, Hurley will be trekking through the Ica desert in Peru, competing in the grueling Marathon des Sables (MdS) – the first time in the event’s illustrious 32-year history it is being held outside of the Sahara Desert.
Hurley has enjoyed a fairly distinguished playing career himself – having represented the Arabian Gulf RFU in 15s and 7s between 2003-09 and the UAE from 2010-13.
The MdS is renowned for the physical and mental strain it places on participants. It is a 250km ultramarathon that is run over six stages and eight days. It sounds like a tough task for anyone, never mind someone who “despises” running.
“My whole life I’ve never been a fan of running and actually hated it,” admitted Hurley, 39, who unlike many better prepared participants, only signed on to compete three months ago.
“I would get it done at training, pre-season, 7s sprint trainings etc, but running over 3km was the limit.
“I had actually never really run over 5km in my life before I signed up to this race, which has made the training interesting and how amazing the human body adapts. I’ve grown to enjoy it over the last 12 weeks.”
Hurley (r) in action for the Arabian Gulf in a World Cup Sevens qualifier v Japan in 2007
The Philippines-born Australian, who has called the UAE home for nearly 18 years, played in the Dragons Social team that lost the Plate final to Sand Sharks at last year’s Sevens.
Having called it a day after 17 straight years featuring at the tournament and turning 40 during his Peruvian pilgrimage, Hurley, who refuses to play vets rugby, was keen to find something to keep him occupied on Sevens weekend.
“I retired from rugby because I can’t commit to the trainings anymore, with all the travel I do with work,” said Hurley, who is the Africa, Middle East and South Asia director for Spanish fashion brand, Mango.
“Although I still feel fit and healthy enough to play, I don’t want to give half an effort. I’m not really into playing vets rugby either.
“Part of the decision for doing this is for charity, but I think the final factor that helped seal the decision was I turn 40 on the final stage of this race.
“Since I hung up the rugby boots last year at the 7s, I’ve been searching for a new goal or at least a fitness target I could work towards.
“When you retire from playing a team sport after 35 years, it leaves quite a big hole and despite the fact I’m still involved in the club and all the boys are good mates, it’s not quite the same.
“I wanted to do something so far out of my comfort zone, this seemed like a good idea.”
Prior to the AGRFU disbanding in 2009 and the UAE forming its own, independent union, Hurley represented the Arabian Gulf at the 2009 Rugby World Cup Sevens, held in the UAE.
The team lost all three games in Pool A, including a 41-5 defeat to juggernauts New Zealand, although they were narrowly beaten 19-17 by Italy in their final match, before going down to Ireland 24-5 in the first knockout round of the Bowl competition.
There he played alongside fellow Dragons Jonny MacDonald, now an assistant coach at the club, James Love, who returned to Jebel Ali this season after stints with London Scottish and playing in Hong Kong, and Tom Otton, who is also tackling the MdS with him.
Jonny MacDonald in action for the Arabian Gulf v Tonga at the 2009 World Cup Sevens
He was also part of the Dragons side that won three Gulf Men’s League titles at Dubai from 2011-13 and admits the tournament will always hold a special place in his heart.
“There’s so many moments that stand out,” added Hurley, who lives in the old town/Manzil district of Dubai.
“I played for the Arabian Gulf for seven years at the 7s, we toured to other 7s tournaments, but probably my favourite was the Rugby World Cup 7s in 2009.
“Since then, definitely winning the three back to back victories with the Dragons, that was utterly fantastic and was just as important to me as the representative stuff.”
During training, Hurley and Otton discovered fellow Dubai resident Nick Peters was also entering, so the three joined forces. Otton and Peters have some similar experience – Create Media Group managing director Otton ran the MdS in its traditional home of Morocco’s Sahara in 2015 and summited Mera Peak in the Himalayas last year.
He’s very much the rookie of the group and knows he’s in for an energy-sapping struggle. But he insists there’s nothing he fears ahead of the race, which started earlier today.
“I’ve been looking forward to the whole experience, not just the race,” said Hurley, who landed in Lima with the guys last Wednesday.
“I honestly don’t think there’s anything I’m dreading, but I know stuff will go wrong, we just have to deal with it and support each other.
“I can only go by what I’ve heard from the guys who’ve done this before and Tom is one of them, but managing your feet is the toughest part I think.
“I’ve heard 95 per cent of people come out of it with their feet genuinely destroyed, blistered, bloody etc. And maybe not washing for nine days coukd be the other hard part.”
He’s tried his hand at kayaking, outriggers, triathlons and rugby in the past, all of which feature elements of distance, but Hurley knows they don’t compare to this.
“I’ll have to let you know after we (hopefully) finish the race, but I can see this sort of challenge becoming very addictive. If the training is anything to go by, the highs and satisfaction I’ve felt after some of the long training days (30-35km) have been amazing.”
The trio are raising money for the Larchfield Orphanage in Tanzania and are targeting Dh30,000.
Hurley added: “It’s the other part to this challenge I’m looking forward to. We’ve started only a few days ago because UAE approval took 10weeks. The other charity is one close to my family’s heart in Australia, with funds being raised there for it.”
You can help the guys reach their target by visiting their JustGiving page at www.justgiving.com/teams/PeruUltra2017.
