Ramola Talwar Badam
DUBAI // More than 23,000 runners sprinted, jogged and limped their way across the finish line in Friday’s Dubai Marathon.
Spirit, camaraderie and enthusiasm was evident in every entrant – from super-speedy professional runners to those making their race debut.
The race was won by Tsegaye Mekonnen Asefa, 18, from Ethiopia, who set a world junior record after crossing the finish line in two hours, four minutes and 32 seconds.
The fastest woman was Ethiopian Mula Seboka Seyfu, who clocked in at 2:25:01.
People in wheelchairs, firefighters from France and a host of people in costume also took part in the 10th year of the marathon.
Some were intent on achieving personal goals, while others were keen to raise funds and awareness of diseases. Many others ran simply for the love of the sport.
“This was the only way to get home, I had to complete the race,” said Thor Ranthe, a Dubai business consultant who hobbled across the finish line in just under 2 hours and 30 minutes.
“Cramps are not dangerous, so I continued running. The pain started after 35 kilometres and I couldn’t do much but run, stretch, run and stretch.”
Crouched low, pushing his wheelchair, Ali Suwalne, a government employee from Jordan, said his hands were bruised and he was drained by the effort.
“I started to train two years ago because I want to improve myself and show everyone that if I can do it, others can also do the same,” he said.
Among the 30,900 entrants to the marathon, 10K and 3K fun run were thousands of veteran runners and an equal number of first-timers.
As the sun began to beat down on the marathon runners, many required oxygen support and medical assistance after collapsing along the route or close to the finish line.
“I didn’t know how I would feel after a marathon, now I know – I feel terrible. But maybe I will feel better later,” said Ataka Toru, a visiting Japanese engineer who combined a business trip to the UAE with his marathon debut.
Like several entrants, he suffered from cramps but recovered after drinking fluids.
“I wanted to have the experience of running the marathon. Running keeps me healthy and helps me forget my work, I just run,” he said.
It was tourist Roberto Boiano’s fifteenth marathon. The hairdresser, from Caserta, near Rome, who is visiting the UAE for the first time, said long-distance running was relaxing.
“My stress goes out of me when I run,” he said. “You are very, very tired but it makes you become very, very calm.”
Hundreds came out to cheer on the runners. The most visible contingent of supporters was a group of Ethiopians wearing red, yellow and green t-shirts and waving their national flag.
They stomped, sang, beat drums and whistled for every Ethiopian athlete whose image flashed across giant screens at the finish line.
“We are singing spiritual songs to be thankful for this day,” said Sara Moges, a housekeeper at an Abu Dhabi hotel who attended with friends. “We are here to cheer for our athletes because they are the best, always.”
The crowds reserved their loudest cheers for contestants with special needs.
Coline Gaultier, a professional musician from France, was lifted out of a joelette, a specially designed one-wheel chair, and walked a few steps to the finish line helped by her Parisian firefighter teammates.
“Before the chair, I was a sporting person. I want to enjoy the same now and they help me,” said Ms Gaultier, who suffers from dystonia, a condition that causes the muscles to contract and spasm involuntarily.
A team of seven firefighters from the Pompier Raid Aventure group took turns pulling the chair across the 42-kilometre course.
The team aims to give people with special needs the chance to take part in sporting events and they have their sights set on marathons in Australia and Tanzania this year.
“It’s a great challenge for me because, with every race, my condition is at a different stage and gets worse. But I want to show that if you want to, you can do it,” Ms Gaultier said.
Wearing a bright blue and red suit with a flowing red cape, another contestant was keen to spread a health message.
“Marathon Man”, also known as Trent Morrow, from Australia, ran 158 marathons last year, taking him to 11 countries on five continents.
“I put on this suit to inspire others to take a leap of faith,” said Morrow, who took up running in 2006.
“I was 30 kilograms overweight and I want to show others what is truly possible if you believe in yourself, and with a fitness and lifestyle change.”
rtalwar@thenational.ae
The specs
Engine: 2.7-litre 4-cylinder Turbomax
Power: 310hp
Torque: 583Nm
Transmission: 8-speed automatic
Price: From Dh192,500
On sale: Now
Singham Again
Director: Rohit Shetty
Stars: Ajay Devgn, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Ranveer Singh, Akshay Kumar, Tiger Shroff, Deepika Padukone
Rating: 3/5
Company%20profile
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COMPANY PROFILE
● Company: Bidzi
● Started: 2024
● Founders: Akshay Dosaj and Asif Rashid
● Based: Dubai, UAE
● Industry: M&A
● Funding size: Bootstrapped
● No of employees: Nine
Sarfira
Director: Sudha Kongara Prasad
Starring: Akshay Kumar, Radhika Madan, Paresh Rawal
Rating: 2/5
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APPLE IPAD MINI (A17 PRO)
Display: 21cm Liquid Retina Display, 2266 x 1488, 326ppi, 500 nits
Chip: Apple A17 Pro, 6-core CPU, 5-core GPU, 16-core Neural Engine
Storage: 128/256/512GB
Main camera: 12MP wide, f/1.8, digital zoom up to 5x, Smart HDR 4
Front camera: 12MP ultra-wide, f/2.4, Smart HDR 4, full-HD @ 25/30/60fps
Biometrics: Touch ID, Face ID
Colours: Blue, purple, space grey, starlight
In the box: iPad mini, USB-C cable, 20W USB-C power adapter
Price: From Dh2,099
Tree of Hell
Starring: Raed Zeno, Hadi Awada, Dr Mohammad Abdalla
Director: Raed Zeno
Rating: 4/5
Cricket World Cup League 2
UAE squad
Rahul Chopra (captain), Aayan Afzal Khan, Ali Naseer, Aryansh Sharma, Basil Hameed, Dhruv Parashar, Junaid Siddique, Muhammad Farooq, Muhammad Jawadullah, Muhammad Waseem, Omid Rahman, Rahul Bhatia, Tanish Suri, Vishnu Sukumaran, Vriitya Aravind
Fixtures
Friday, November 1 – Oman v UAE
Sunday, November 3 – UAE v Netherlands
Thursday, November 7 – UAE v Oman
Saturday, November 9 – Netherlands v UAE
The specs
Engine: 3.8-litre twin-turbo flat-six
Power: 650hp at 6,750rpm
Torque: 800Nm from 2,500-4,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed dual-clutch auto
Fuel consumption: 11.12L/100km
Price: From Dh796,600
On sale: now
'The Batman'
Stars:Robert Pattinson
Director:Matt Reeves
Rating: 5/5
Omar Yabroudi's factfile
Born: October 20, 1989, Sharjah
Education: Bachelor of Science and Football, Liverpool John Moores University
2010: Accrington Stanley FC, internship
2010-2012: Crystal Palace, performance analyst with U-18 academy
2012-2015: Barnet FC, first-team performance analyst/head of recruitment
2015-2017: Nottingham Forest, head of recruitment
2018-present: Crystal Palace, player recruitment manager
THE SPECS
Engine: 6.0-litre, twin-turbocharged W12
Transmission: eight-speed automatic
Power: 626bhp
Torque: 900Nm
Price: Dh1,050,000
On sale: now
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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COMPANY%20PROFILE%20
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Results:
First Test: New Zealand 30 British & Irish Lions 15
Second Test: New Zealand 21 British & Irish Lions 24
Third Test: New Zealand 15 British & Irish Lions 15
Company%20Profile
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Company%20Profile
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It's up to you to go green
Nils El Accad, chief executive and owner of Organic Foods and Café, says going green is about “lifestyle and attitude” rather than a “money change”; people need to plan ahead to fill water bottles in advance and take their own bags to the supermarket, he says.
“People always want someone else to do the work; it doesn’t work like that,” he adds. “The first step: you have to consciously make that decision and change.”
When he gets a takeaway, says Mr El Accad, he takes his own glass jars instead of accepting disposable aluminium containers, paper napkins and plastic tubs, cutlery and bags from restaurants.
He also plants his own crops and herbs at home and at the Sheikh Zayed store, from basil and rosemary to beans, squashes and papayas. “If you’re going to water anything, better it be tomatoes and cucumbers, something edible, than grass,” he says.
“All this throwaway plastic - cups, bottles, forks - has to go first,” says Mr El Accad, who has banned all disposable straws, whether plastic or even paper, from the café chain.
One of the latest changes he has implemented at his stores is to offer refills of liquid laundry detergent, to save plastic. The two brands Organic Foods stocks, Organic Larder and Sonnett, are both “triple-certified - you could eat the product”.
The Organic Larder detergent will soon be delivered in 200-litre metal oil drums before being decanted into 20-litre containers in-store.
Customers can refill their bottles at least 30 times before they start to degrade, he says. Organic Larder costs Dh35.75 for one litre and Dh62 for 2.75 litres and refills will cost 15 to 20 per cent less, Mr El Accad says.
But while there are savings to be had, going green tends to come with upfront costs and extra work and planning. Are we ready to refill bottles rather than throw them away? “You have to change,” says Mr El Accad. “I can only make it available.”
TRAP
Starring: Josh Hartnett, Saleka Shyamalan, Ariel Donaghue
Director: M Night Shyamalan
Rating: 3/5
The five pillars of Islam
1. Fasting
2. Prayer
3. Hajj
4. Shahada
5. Zakat
How Sputnik V works
More from Neighbourhood Watch
Company profile
Date started: January, 2014
Founders: Mike Dawson, Varuna Singh, and Benita Rowe
Based: Dubai
Sector: Education technology
Size: Five employees
Investment: $100,000 from the ExpoLive Innovation Grant programme in 2018 and an initial $30,000 pre-seed investment from the Turn8 Accelerator in 2014. Most of the projects are government funded.
Partners/incubators: Turn8 Accelerator; In5 Innovation Centre; Expo Live Innovation Impact Grant Programme; Dubai Future Accelerators; FHI 360; VSO and Consult and Coach for a Cause (C3)
Specs%3A%202024%20McLaren%20Artura%20Spider
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BIGGEST CYBER SECURITY INCIDENTS IN RECENT TIMES
SolarWinds supply chain attack: Came to light in December 2020 but had taken root for several months, compromising major tech companies, governments and its entities
Microsoft Exchange server exploitation: March 2021; attackers used a vulnerability to steal emails
Kaseya attack: July 2021; ransomware hit perpetrated REvil, resulting in severe downtime for more than 1,000 companies
Log4j breach: December 2021; attackers exploited the Java-written code to inflitrate businesses and governments
The specs
Engine: 1.5-litre 4-cylinder petrol
Power: 154bhp
Torque: 250Nm
Transmission: 7-speed automatic with 8-speed sports option
Price: From Dh79,600
On sale: Now
Company%20Profile
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Kandahar%20
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The%20specs
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European arms
Known EU weapons transfers to Ukraine since the war began: Germany 1,000 anti-tank weapons and 500 Stinger surface-to-air missiles. Luxembourg 100 NLAW anti-tank weapons, jeeps and 15 military tents as well as air transport capacity. Belgium 2,000 machine guns, 3,800 tons of fuel. Netherlands 200 Stinger missiles. Poland 100 mortars, 8 drones, Javelin anti-tank weapons, Grot assault rifles, munitions. Slovakia 12,000 pieces of artillery ammunition, 10 million litres of fuel, 2.4 million litres of aviation fuel and 2 Bozena de-mining systems. Estonia Javelin anti-tank weapons. Latvia Stinger surface to air missiles. Czech Republic machine guns, assault rifles, other light weapons and ammunition worth $8.57 million.
Joker: Folie a Deux
Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Lady Gaga, Brendan Gleeson
Director: Todd Phillips
Rating: 2/5
Moon Music
Artist: Coldplay
Label: Parlophone/Atlantic
Number of tracks: 10
Rating: 3/5
Key Points
- Protests against President Omar Al Bashir enter their sixth day
- Reports of President Bashir's resignation and arrests of senior government officials
As You Were
Liam Gallagher
(Warner Bros)
