SHEIKH HAMDAN’S ‘GOV GAMES’ TO TEST TASK SOLVING AND FITNESS
▶ Dh1 million contest will challenge teamwork, mental and physical skills of government staff
Dubai government staff are about to be put through their paces after Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed yesterday announced the first Gov Games, to be held next month.
Launched by Sheikh Hamdan, the Crown Prince of Dubai, who in October launched the Dubai Fitness Challenge, the event will pit teams of workers against each other in a bid to be Gov Games champions.
The competition, which will be held on April 25 to 28 at Kite Beach, will be open to the public to watch as employees are put to the test through a series of inventive tasks, including an obstacle course.
The first day of the event will be dedicated to women, the second to men and the third for finals. Taking part will be Dubai government departments, and invitations have been extended to governments in other emirates and the federal government.
It’s not all just fun and games – the winning team in each gender will receive Dh1 million in prize money.
“We are combining mental agility with fitness and teamwork,” said Marwan bin Essa, Gov Games director. “If your team are missing one [of these], you won’t make it.
“It’s about getting government employees fit, but being physically strong alone isn’t going to be enough to succeed here. The games we designed require all three attributes to solve the tasks.”
The theme of this year’s games is One Team, One Soul. Participants will be challenged to strengthen their collaboration skills and team spirit throughout the competition. The initiative also seeks to promote an active and healthy lifestyle.
“We want to create awareness and realisation that sport is important and for everyone,” said Col Jassim Mirza, head of security awareness at Dubai Police, who will also be taking part in the games.
“Individuals should not only watch sport but must also get involved.” Col Mirza said sport had a unique power to unite people and that the “force encourages the public to work out and lead a healthy lifestyle”. He said: “Along with combating obesity, sport helps in preventing heart diseases and other types of illness.”
Abdulla Al Basti, secretary general of the Dubai Executive Council, said: “There is a lot of research into team spirit and happiness in employees, and we believe working, building and enhancing the team spirit between the Dubai government will help this.”
From record-breaking mass exercises to police officers in Dubai setting a Guinness World Record for pulling an Emirates A380 jet 100 metres, last year’s Dubai Fitness Challenge was considered a big success.
The initiative, which sought to get people in the emirate to exercise for 30 minutes every day for 30 days, was for government and private sectors, all age groups and levels.
Up to 786,000 participants joined in the month-long efforts, in which footballer Rio Ferdinand and heavyweight boxer Anthony Joshua took part, inspiring authorities in the city to seek to capitalise on a renewed interest in healthy living.
An orientation for Gov Games is expected to take place at the end of the month, in which the obstacles will be explained to those registered to take part.
A panel of judges will oversee the competition and teams will be awarded points based on their ability to work together in navigating the set obstacles within allotted times.
The wining team will be the one that works best together and completes the final task in the shortest time. The initiative is a collaboration between the General Secretariat of the Executive Council Dubai, Dubai Sports Council and Meraas Holding.