HAMDAN’S TEAMS MAKE A BIG SPLASH AT GOV GAMES
Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, leading his team F3 during the finals of the Gov Games on Kite Beach, Dubai, on Saturday. Amid cheers all around, Sheikh Hamdan reinforced his image as the champion of fitness as his teams won the ultimate prize in both female and male categories. —
dubai — Spectators thronged Kite Beach on Saturday to watch government teams battle it out on the final day of Gov Games 2.0. And amid cheers and high fives all around, Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, reinforced his image as the champion of fitness as his F3 team won the ultimate prize in both female and male categories.
The Dh3-million Gov Games prize pool is split among the winners, with men’s and women’s champions receiving Dh1 million each. Second and third-placed teams received Dh300,000 and Dh200,000 each, respectively.
F3 bested over a hundred teams of local, federal and international government departments.
In the men’s category, the Abu Dhabi Police ranked second and the Dubai Police won third. The women of Dewa, on the other hand, were placed second in their category, while the Dubai Airports team finished third.
Twelve teams had qualified for the finale that was said to be the toughest obstacle the Gov Games has ever seen. Called the ‘Battleship’, participants had to cross four-metre ninja walls, then make their way across a two-metre-long acrylic tube filled with water, swing on a T-bar and launch themselves onto a net, which is on a zip line. They were then taken into a pool of ice-cold water, followed by a stabiliser challenge. After completing that stage, the participants had to hop down to the ground level, complete a puzzle and break cement rocks to get a key.
F3 coach Ollie Turton expressed how proud he was of his team, especially the women who braved the Battleship. “I’m so impressed with the girls. That was amazing — for them not to hesitate on the jump (for the T-Bar) and the net, just to focus on what they had to do.
“They’ve shown that they are super fit, super strong — physically and mentally. I put them through a lot but this is worth it,” Turton said after his team conquered the final challenge in just 22 minutes.
“We didn’t know what to aim for time-wise, I just told the girls that the team that makes the least number of mistakes would cross the line first.”
The team didn’t know what to expect, but F3 member Amna bin Bahar said their performance at the finale showed how hard they’ve worked for the games.
“We’ve been lucky enough to have amazing coaches who have pushed us every second, but we’ve worked really well together, doing a lot of team-building exercises,” Bin Bahar said. “The obstacle where we had to smash the cement ball with the sledge hammer, I loved it.”
The general atmosphere around the beach was electric, as the crowds were treated to some fantastic physical manoeuvres. Ahead of the finale, Sheikh Hamdan and his team warmed up on the jogging track around the beach, much to the crowd’s delight.
An F3 team fan, Maryam Al Shamsi, said: “Of course, F3 was going to win because you could see from the start of the obstacle that they were very determined.”
Another F3 team fan in the crowd said: “I can’t even imagine completing an obstacle course like this myself. You need a lot of physical and mental strength to do all of the challenges in this obstacle. For example, being wet and trying to solve the stabiliser puzzle — that’s difficult.”
A supporter of Dewa, Humaid, said: “The Dewa team in women’s category did well. A lot of the Dewa employees came out to support them. It’s not easy to break the cement rocks — you have to have so much strength for it.”
Held under the theme of ‘One Team. One Spirit’, Gov Games 2019 saw 168 teams vie for the top prize. The games is the ultimate physical and mental challenge for government employees that was launched by Sheikh Hamdan last year.