Clean, sparse Cairo suburbs woo joggers
Clogged with motor and pedestrian traffic for most of the day, Cairo is among the world’s most polluted cities
Every Friday, Bassem Hassan, an accountant, makes sure he is on the street just at daybreak. The 28-year-old Egyptian joins dozens of others in running on the circular sidewalk of a spacious park in the quarter of Heliopolis near his house in east Cairo.
“My job as well as life burdens as a married man do not allow me time to exercise regularly in a gym,” Hassan says.
“In recent months, I’ve noticed that I started gaining weight and feel lethargic due to the lack of exercise. Upon a suggestion from a friend, I jog at least once during my weekend around the fence of the Maryland,” he adds, referring to a famous park in Heliopolis.
“My persistence has paid off. In a couple of months, I shed some kilos of body weight. Also, running makes me relieved of any stress,” he told Gulf News.
Hassan is one of many people who hit the streets of the sprawling Egyptian capital on Friday mornings, the weekend in Egypt, and national holidays when the road traffic is light.
New communities
More than 20 million people are estimated to be living in the Greater Cairo zone that includes Cairo and the adjoining cities of Giza and Qaliubia.
Clogged with motor and pedestrian traffic for most of the day, Cairo is one of the world’s most polluted cities.
In recent years, Egyptians who can afford it have moved to the outskirts of Cairo to live in gated communities where pollution and car traffic are low. In recent years it has become common to see hundreds of Egyptians wearing track suits and running together in leafy quarters such as Zamalek, Maadi and Heliopolis or on the streets of new communities in the October 6 City west of Cairo or Tagamuh on the eastern edge.
These have provided a welcome chance for health-conscious women, who are discouraged from running inside Cairo due to the heavy traffic and for fear of sexual harassment, a common problem in Egypt.
These runs are organised by individuals or groups.
“I am an avid follower of Cairo Runners,” says Hadeel Farhat, a female engineering student, citing a popular non-governmental organiser of runs in the Egyptian capital.
“I and my friends have participated in most of the group’s recent marathons. The organisation is usually wonderful and the atmosphere is cheerful. You also feel safe from the threat of harassment,” the 22-year-old student adds.
Frustrating case
Some years ago, Hadeel once tried to run for fitness near her house in the east Cairo of Manshiyet Al Sadr. “It was a frustrating experience,” she remembers. “There were no proper sidewalks for running. Men and women looked angrily at me, considering me an ill-bred girl. Some men verbally harassed me.”
Now Hadeel is a frequent participant in the running events held on Friday mornings in or around Cairo.
When it organised its first run in December 2012, Cairo Runners said the event attracted around 60 participants. The figure has steadily increased to 2,500 runners per event, according to the group.
“The aim is to make it a normal thing for people to turn up on the streets of Cairo and exercise,” the group’s cofounder Ebrahim Safwat, said in a recent seminar.