DUBAI // The mayor of London has said the city's annual marathon will go ahead this Sunday, despite the tragedy in Boston.
"What's happened in Boston has been shocking and horrific, and our thoughts are very much with the victims and their families," Boris Johnson said in Dubai yesterday.
"I've talked to the commissioner of police in London today. At the moment there is no direct read-across that we can see but clearly we will be calling on the public to be vigilant, and it may be that there will be some intensified search operations.
"But certainly we will be proceeding as normal."
The London Marathon is the world's biggest, with 36,748 crossing the finish line last year.
Angeline Wehbe, 43, a full-time mum and coach at Abras AC running club, will be leaving Dubai for London today to compete in the marathon.
Apart from a brief flicker of doubt when she first heard the Boston news late on Monday night, she said she was "absolutely determined" to compete.
"What happened in Boston would never, ever stop me," Ms Wehbe said.
"You can't have these crazy people control what you do in your life. This is my passion and why should I stop doing it just out of fear?
"It was great that the London officials came out really early on and said we're beefing up the security measures.
"I've had a lot of friends and family calling, worried - telling me to stay out of big crowds, which is a bit difficult in a marathon of 35,000 people.
"But why should I let monsters deter me? Even if I was competing in the Boston Marathon next year, I wouldn't give it a second thought. We can't let acts of terror win.
"What's so sad is that it's the supporters who really make the race, and they were the ones targeted after standing there for hours cheering people on."
The London race has three starting points that converge in Woolwich and the 42.1-kilometre course ends on The Mall near Buckingham Palace.
The race is also considered one of the most charitable, with up to 70 per cent of runners competing to raise funds.
In 2009, the event won a Guinness World Record for being the largest annual fund-raising event, after participants raised more than £47.2 million (Dh265.3m) for charity.
csimpson@thenational.ae
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Eoin Morgan (captain), Moeen Ali, Jonny Bairstow, Sam Billings, Jos Buttler, Tom Curran, Alex Hales, Liam Plunkett, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Jason Roy, Ben Stokes, David Willey, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood
If you go
The flights
There are direct flights from Dubai to Sofia with FlyDubai (www.flydubai.com) and Wizz Air (www.wizzair.com), from Dh1,164 and Dh822 return including taxes, respectively.
The trip
Plovdiv is 150km from Sofia, with an hourly bus service taking around 2 hours and costing $16 (Dh58). The Rhodopes can be reached from Sofia in between 2-4hours.
The trip was organised by Bulguides (www.bulguides.com), which organises guided trips throughout Bulgaria. Guiding, accommodation, food and transfers from Plovdiv to the mountains and back costs around 170 USD for a four-day, three-night trip.
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The Scale for Clinical Actionability of Molecular Targets
Thank You for Banking with Us
Director: Laila Abbas
Starring: Yasmine Al Massri, Clara Khoury, Kamel El Basha, Ashraf Barhoum
Rating: 4/5
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The specs
Engine: 2-litre 4-cylinder and 3.6-litre 6-cylinder
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Transmission: eight-speed automatic
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Starfield
Joker: Folie a Deux
Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Lady Gaga, Brendan Gleeson
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Bangladesh tour of Pakistan
January 24 – First T20, Lahore
January 25 – Second T20, Lahore
January 27 – Third T20, Lahore
February 7-11 – First Test, Rawalpindi
April 3 – One-off ODI, Karachi
April 5-9 – Second Test, Karachi
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ESSENTIALS
The flights
Emirates, Etihad and Swiss fly direct from the UAE to Zurich from Dh2,855 return, including taxes.
The chalet
Chalet N is currently open in winter only, between now and April 21. During the ski season, starting on December 11, a week’s rental costs from €210,000 (Dh898,431) per week for the whole property, which has 22 beds in total, across six suites, three double rooms and a children’s suite. The price includes all scheduled meals, a week’s ski pass, Wi-Fi, parking, transfers between Munich, Innsbruck or Zurich airports and one 50-minute massage per person. Private ski lessons cost from €360 (Dh1,541) per day. Halal food is available on request.
COMPANY PROFILE
While you're here
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Call of Duty: Black Ops 6
Developer: Treyarch, Raven Software
Publisher: Activision
Console: PlayStation 4 & 5, Windows, Xbox One & Series X/S
Rating: 3.5/5
Family reunited
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was born and raised in Tehran and studied English literature before working as a translator in the relief effort for the Japanese International Co-operation Agency in 2003.
She moved to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies before moving to the World Health Organisation as a communications officer.
She came to the UK in 2007 after securing a scholarship at London Metropolitan University to study a master's in communication management and met her future husband through mutual friends a month later.
The couple were married in August 2009 in Winchester and their daughter was born in June 2014.
She was held in her native country a year later.
COMPANY PROFILE
● Company: Bidzi
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Moon Music
Artist: Coldplay
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MATCH INFO
Champions League quarter-final, first leg
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Match on BeIN Sports
TRAP
Starring: Josh Hartnett, Saleka Shyamalan, Ariel Donaghue
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Company profile
Name: Fruitful Day
Founders: Marie-Christine Luijckx, Lyla Dalal AlRawi, Lindsey Fournie
Based: Dubai, UAE
Founded: 2015
Number of employees: 30
Sector: F&B
Funding so far: Dh3 million
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The specs
The specs
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