Route unveiled for Dubai Challenge

Triathlon featuring some of the best athletes to kick off at Jumeirah Beach Park

The organisers of the Dubai Challenge Triathlon have announced the route for the annual race scheduled to take place tomorrow.

Organised under the patronage of Shaikh Hamdan Bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of the Dubai Sports Council (DSC), some of the best triathletes from across the world have confirmed for the event this week.

The event will kick off with a mass start for the 1.9km swimming leg near the Jumeirah Beach Park starting at 6.45am. After sufficient breaks, the contestants will start in batches in various age categories with the last batch leaving at 8am.

Next up will be the cycling leg to be held over 90km with the cyclists moving towards Meydan through the Al Safa Park road and Nad Al Sheba before moving towards the Al Ain Road, turning right to Al Aweer Industrial, University City and Technical College, then heading towards Warsan area, and finally returning to the starting point at Jumeirah Beach.

The inaugural edition of the race has a prize money of $300,000 (Dh1.1 million) prize money for the top 10 finishers in the men and women’s categories with the top two finishers in each category receiving $65,000 and the runners-up getting $35,000 each. There will be separate competitions and prizes for emirati triathletes and for various age categories as well.

Spanish sensation Javier Gomez is the latest addition to an already outstanding field that has been confirmed for the Dubai race. The Spaniard rewrote history last year after winning his fourth ITU World Championship title in Edmonton, and just two weeks later, claimed the World Championship in Mount Tremblant.