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The Middle East’s first ever Urbanathlon event got off to a winning start yesterday at Yas Marina Circuit, as the sold-out event saw 600 athletes lining up at the start line to get stuck in to this fun, yet challenging race course. The number of competitors was limited to 600 due to safety considerations as it was the inaugural race.
The Urbanathlon event, organised by Men’s Health Middle East and sponsored by Activelife by Daman, saw the runners battling with 17 fiendishly difficult obstacles that spanned the 10-kilometre course at Yas Marina Circuit, including having to crawl under an F1 display car, jump in to Yas Marina for a 50-metre swim, swing across monkey bars and climb a three-metre wall, as well as deal with other testing hurdles.
The first prize – two round-trip tickets to the USA, including five nights in a hotel and a chance to compete in Urbanathlon USA 2015 – was won in the male category by James Buchanan, a Consultant living in Dubai. He completed the race in an incredible 39 minutes and 39 seconds, and said: “I feel tired, I feel extremely happy but most of all I feel like I had a very, very good day. Even for me to come here on a Tuesday to train is a pleasure so to come to a place like this and win absolutely brilliant. This is one of the best races I’ve ever done of any type, it was very professionally organised and has very unique feel to it with lots of Yas Marina-specific obstacles – Formula 1 cars, swimming in the marina, dragging tyres down the drag race track – all this unique stuff you wouldn’t find anywhere else”.
The first prize in the female category went to Genevieve Godward, a Racehorse Exercise Rider living in Dubai, who completed the race in an impressive 49 minutes and 21 seconds. Godward said: ‘I can’t believe I won. I had so much fun and it was a brilliant feeling crossing the finish line in front. The event was really well organised and this is a great venue for the race, it was so good to run past the Formula 1 cars and the course was always changing with a lot to look at. I’ve won a few races before but nothing as large as this that involved a holiday to the USA as a prize.”
“The first ever Urbanathlon held in the Middle East has been a great success” said Andrew Nagy, editor of Men’s Health Middle East. “We were delighted with such a fantastic turnout, and were pleased to welcome a wide array of athletes of all abilities that signed up to take part in the region’s toughest challenge, and we look forward to planning next year’s race already.”
The event at Yas Marina Circuit was the latest addition to the Urbanathlon global roster that has seen races in more than 16 cities across 6 continents worldwide.
“The first Urbanathlon is something we have been very proud to be associated with as key sponsor,” says Andrew Phillips, Director – Marketing & Customer Experience at Daman. “At Activelife by Daman we are constantly searching for exciting and engaging new ways with which to galvanise the UAE’s residents towards more positive lifestyle choices and Urbanathlon dovetails neatly with our corporate ethos and ambitions in the UAE.”
Abdulla Al Shammari, Yas Community Manager at Yas Marina Circuit, adds: “We are fortunate to have the best facilities available at Yas Marina Circuit, which allow us to support unique propositions such as Urbanathlon, and we are very proud to have offered the UAE’s athletic community something so different.
“We are passionate in terms of empowering the local community to be more active and encourage them to take advantage of the superb suite of health and fitness opportunities we offer all year round.”
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