BROTHERS’ PERFORMANCES PUT PACK TO SWORD IN LONG RUN
Apair of brothers won a Nissan Patrol, a sword and Dh70,000 in the third annual National Day Camel Marathon at Dubai International Endurance City yesterday morning.
The annual marathon is a camel race unlike any other because here, strategy beats speed. At 25 kilometres, the marathon is the longest camel race with human jockeys in the country.
The endurance race comprised a group of 42 elite camels and Emirati jockeys who had trained for weeks.
First place went to jockey Ghadeer Al Balooshi, 21, whose camel Mashkoor pushed through in the final second to beat his older brother Shafar. Their other brother, Wazair, came in seventh.
Ghadeer took the Nissan Patrol and the sword for first place, while his brother received Dh70,000. The sword will hang in the majlis reception room at the camel farm.
Cash prizes were also given to the top 30 participants.
At the regular races in the winter season, robots are used instead of humans. But the National Day race, organised by the Hamdan bin Mohammed Heritage Centre and Dubai Camel Racing Club, honours tradition, so Emirati men take the reins.
Not everyone finishes. It is a significant distance for these mature camels, most of whom are six or seven years old and normally compete at distances of between 8km and 11km.
The marathon is equally gruelling for riders. Minutes into the race, jockeys begin to fall off their mounts, which do not have a graceful gait at any speed.
“Some camels they don’t achieve and some camels finish alone and the rider is not there,” said Mohammed Abdullah, director of corporate support at the heritage centre.
At yesterday’s race, stamina trumps strength. These are not the fastest camels in the country but older racers that can handle the distance.
“The key factor here is experience,” Mr Abdullah said. “When we start the race we see lots of camels running fast and it’s like a trick. When others run fast, your camel also wants to run behind because it wants to compete. Experts hold their camel back.”
Experience has its drawbacks. Seasoned race camels are trained to ignore distractions so they won’t continue running in a straight line if their rider falls off.
If a camel crosses the line without its jockey, it is disqualified.
Among the hopefuls lining up on the sand track at dawn was Barzan, a seven-year-old camel belonging to the Emirati lawyer Ahmed Dhahi.
While some camels had entire families cheering them on, Barzan’s only fans were Mr Dhahi and his Sudanese trainer, a man who introduced himself as Abu Hasan Kasala, but is known on the track as Obama.
Their rival was a camel owned by Yahya Al Malaai, whose camel had won the inaugural competition.
Mr Dhahi owns 120 breeding camels and 30 racing camels, and that is not a modest number given that race camels can easily fetch prices of Dh120,000.
A champion camel can quickly repay its investment in the winter race season with cars and cash prizes on offer.
Of all of his camels, Mr Dhahi selected Barzan. He bought the animal two years ago after it won a car in a race.
It was Barzan’s second marathon and a second chance to win the victor’s sword.
“Last year I was in Sri Lanka at this time and he came sixth,” said Mr Dhahi.
He was approached a few weeks ago by a Sharjah jockey named Imran who wanted a strong bull to race at the marathon.
“He called me and said, ‘I need a camel’. I said, ‘OK, come and ride’,” Mr Dhahi said.
As the race started, the camels’ owners followed their dromedaries on a
Marathon rewards strategy more than speed as riders battle for the coveted winner’s sword and cash prizes, writes Anna Zacharias
sandy road beside the racetrack in their 4x4s, shouting greetings to each other as they went.
Mr Kasala pulled out a Thermos flask and poured sugary tea into glass cups.
Drinking hot tea from small glass cups is not ideal in a car dune bashing beside a group of 42 camels, but Mr Kasala did not spill a drop until he began to pour for his passengers.
Meanwhile, Mr Dhahi adjusted his radio to a local station broadcasting the race commentary.
Within 10 minutes, Mr Kasala had finished his tea and lit his first cigarette of the race.
Jockeys had already begun to part company with their mounts, but Barzan and rider stayed near the front pack. At the 10km mark, every camel dropped its speed.
Barzan and his jockey were still going strong behind the front pack, which the radio commentator had begun comparing to planets of a solar system, awe-inspiring bodies locked in orbit together.
At 20km, Barzan had passed Mr Al Malaai’s camel but another threat had become apparent – Mr Al Malaai’s brother. His camel was overtaking them all.
“I think some of the front guys, they will drop back,” said Mr Dhahi.
But after a minute, Barzan slowed down.
“Obama, how many in front?” asked Mr Dhahi. “Barzan will come sixth, like last time.”
He paused. “Barzan will retire. This is the last race for him.”
Mr Kalasa picked up his walkietalkie and began to cheer Imran the jockey and Barzan the camel, but it was to little avail. Ahead, the clouds of dust grew thicker and the owners of the front pack began to beep their horns as they approached the final kilometre.
Mr Dhahi sped ahead to watch Ghadeer Al Balooshi speed past his older brother in the final second of the race. He left Barzan and Imran behind.
They appeared from the dust a few minutes later, behind the first pack but well ahead of the others, in sixth place.
Imran stood on his camel as he rode over the finish line, every inch the champion.