Cyclists traverse seven emirates in three days
dubai — A group of seven cyclists has covered a 460-kilometre biking across the country in just three days to mark the occasion of the UAE National Sports Day, which was marked on Thursday.
On the first day — Wednesday — the seven cyclists started their journey from Fujairah to Ras Al Khaimah where they stopped to take some rest.
From Ras Al Khaimah, they pedalled through Umm Al Quwain, Ajman on Thursday morning before crossing into Sharjah and then Dubai.
At 4am on Friday, the group set off from Dubai to Abu Dhabi and finished at the breakwater UAE flag on Abu Dhabi Corniche at about 10.30am.
Team leader of the group Faisal Al Nuaimi, 40, who first came up with the idea of traversing the emirates, said it feels so good to see the team accomplish the task.
“This has been my longest journey and I am happy that I and the team have completed it safely,” he said.
“It wasn’t such a tough one,
The number seven represents the unity of the seven emirates, and to show that all the seven cyclists were of different nationalities.” Faisal Al Nuaimi, Team leader
though the terrain in some parts of Fujairah and Ras Al Khaimah, where we had to do a lot of climbing, sometimes it was a little challenging,” he added.
Al Nuaimi, who is the general manager of Ajman Tourism Development Department, said he came up with this idea after His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, announced February 16 as the UAE Sports Day.
“As a sports enthusiast, I thought about a sport that could bring all the seven emirates together and can bring together people of all nationalities. This is why we decided to arrange the ‘seven-cyclists biking tour’ through the seven emirates. We also wanted to send a message to people that sports or exercise should be part of their daily activities,” he said.
“The number seven represents the unity of the seven emirates, and to show that all the seven cyclists were of different nationalities.”
British expat, Nick Watson, 46, another cyclist from Dubai, said: “It has been such a great journey and apart from being a little bit windy in parts of Fujairah and RAK, we didn’t find any difficulty while biking.”
Watson from the Team Angel Wolf — a cycling club in Dubai — said he “loves health and exercise” and was part of the tour along with his disabled son. “With sports activities like cycling, we can motivate more people into doing exercise so that they can live a long, healthy life,” Watson said.
The other riders on the team were two South African expats, a French national and an expat from Denmark.
To prepare for the journey, the cyclists had been taking part in long-distance training riding more than 100km, swimming, running and eating healthy food.