Dubai Run has once again taken over Sheikh Zayed Road as 226,000 participants took part on Sunday morning, making it the biggest one yet.
Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed, Crown Prince of Dubai, announced the final number on his Instagram, thanking all those who turned out for it. He finished by writing: "Stay active! Keep running Dubai. #Dubai30x30".
Closing out the Dubai Fitness Challenge, the run – now in its fifth year – is one of the biggest of its kind in the world as the 14-lane Sheikh Zayed Road closes to traffic for a few hours in the early morning with participants having the option of choosing the 5km or 10km route.
Sheikh Hamdan was at the front of the line as the race began. UAE astronauts Sultan Al Neyadi and Hazza Al Mansouri were also in attendance.
The 5km route began near the Museum of the Future, passing through Burj Khalifa and Dubai Opera and ending near Dubai Mall. Meanwhile, the 10km route also began near the Museum of the Future, going along Sheikh Zayed Road to the Dubai Water Canal, returning towards the World Trade Centre before ending on Al Mustaqbal Street near Dubai International Financial Centre.
This year participants were not only able to walk, jog or sprint on a car-free Sheikh Zayed Road, but also do so while grooving along to upbeat tunes curated by local DJs. Played from three stages along the race route, the playlists were put together by Untold Dubai.
Dubai Run and Dubai Ride are two of the flagship events of the Dubai Fitness Challenge which was launched in 2017 by Sheikh Hamdan. The month-long event aims to transform the emirate into one of the world's most active cities by encouraging everyone to commit to doing physical activity for 30 minutes a day for 30 days.
Desert Warrior
Starring: Anthony Mackie, Aiysha Hart, Ben Kingsley
Director: Rupert Wyatt
Rating: 3/5
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Email sent to Uber team from chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi
From: Dara
To: Team@
Date: March 25, 2019 at 11:45pm PT
Subj: Accelerating in the Middle East
Five years ago, Uber launched in the Middle East. It was the start of an incredible journey, with millions of riders and drivers finding new ways to move and work in a dynamic region that’s become so important to Uber. Now Pakistan is one of our fastest-growing markets in the world, women are driving with Uber across Saudi Arabia, and we chose Cairo to launch our first Uber Bus product late last year.
Today we are taking the next step in this journey—well, it’s more like a leap, and a big one: in a few minutes, we’ll announce that we’ve agreed to acquire Careem. Importantly, we intend to operate Careem independently, under the leadership of co-founder and current CEO Mudassir Sheikha. I’ve gotten to know both co-founders, Mudassir and Magnus Olsson, and what they have built is truly extraordinary. They are first-class entrepreneurs who share our platform vision and, like us, have launched a wide range of products—from digital payments to food delivery—to serve consumers.
I expect many of you will ask how we arrived at this structure, meaning allowing Careem to maintain an independent brand and operate separately. After careful consideration, we decided that this framework has the advantage of letting us build new products and try new ideas across not one, but two, strong brands, with strong operators within each. Over time, by integrating parts of our networks, we can operate more efficiently, achieve even lower wait times, expand new products like high-capacity vehicles and payments, and quicken the already remarkable pace of innovation in the region.
This acquisition is subject to regulatory approval in various countries, which we don’t expect before Q1 2020. Until then, nothing changes. And since both companies will continue to largely operate separately after the acquisition, very little will change in either teams’ day-to-day operations post-close. Today’s news is a testament to the incredible business our team has worked so hard to build.
It’s a great day for the Middle East, for the region’s thriving tech sector, for Careem, and for Uber.
Uber on,
Dara
