Already 2014 has proved to be a good year for Sam Sunderland after he won the second stage of the Dakar Rally last month in the bikes category.
The Dubai-based Briton hopes to build on that strong performance by winning the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge in April.
The event, the opening round of the 2014 FIM Cross Country Rallies World Championship and Round 3 of the FIA World Cup that runs from April 3-10, will see Sunderland compete in the bike category for the Red Bull KTM Factory Rally Team.
“It’s definitely an event that I consider I have a possibility to win,” Sunderland said of his chances of challenging for victory.
“But, for that to happen, everything needs to fall into place. There are so many factors involved in winning a rally like the Desert Challenge, where you’re riding 10 hours a day for five days.”
The move to join the Red Bull team came recently and Sunderland has signed a three-and-a-half-year deal with the organisation that will have him partnered with Marc Coma, the Spaniard who has won in Abu Dhabi seven times and is the defending bike champion. Sunderland put in a strong performance in last year’s competition and was on target for victory before a penalty for a technical infringement demoted him to third, leaving the way clear for Coma, who has won the Dakar Rally four times, to take the spoils.
“The team has a huge amount of experience and I’m dreaming, really,” he said. “I couldn’t ask for anything better.”
Sunderland will link up with Coma and the rest of the KTM team for two weeks of testing in Spain next month before returning to the UAE for another week of preparations for the Desert Challenge.
The rider has a fan in Mohammed ben Sulayem, the president of the Automobile and Touring Club of the UAE (ATCUAE), who said he was impressed with how Sunderland had coped with the setback of missing out on victory last year through something that was controllable.
“Sam showed a lot of maturity in the way he accepted that disappointment and quickly put it behind him, and he has a very bright future ahead of him,” Ben Sulayem said. “He now has a wonderful opportunity to learn from the best, and it’s very satisfying to see a young competitor developing his talent in the UAE and earning recognition in this way. We hope he will inspire many other young riders here.”
Cars, bikes and lorries will compete in three categories in the Desert Challenge, in which most of the action is to take place in the UAE’s Western Region of Al Garbia.
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The flights: South African Airways flies from Dubai International Airport with a stop in Johannesburg, with prices starting from around Dh4,000 return. Emirates can get you there with a stop in Lusaka from around Dh4,600 return.
The details: Visas are available for 247 Zambian kwacha or US$20 (Dh73) per person on arrival at Livingstone Airport. Single entry into Victoria Falls for international visitors costs 371 kwacha or $30 (Dh110). Microlight flights are available through Batoka Sky, with 15-minute flights costing 2,265 kwacha (Dh680).
Accommodation: The Royal Livingstone Victoria Falls Hotel by Anantara is an ideal place to stay, within walking distance of the falls and right on the Zambezi River. Rooms here start from 6,635 kwacha (Dh2,398) per night, including breakfast, taxes and Wi-Fi. Water arrivals cost from 587 kwacha (Dh212) per person.
The biog
Name: Mariam Ketait
Emirate: Dubai
Hobbies: I enjoy travelling, experiencing new things, painting, reading, flying, and the French language
Favourite quote: "Be the change you wish to see" - unknown
Favourite activity: Connecting with different cultures
What is type-1 diabetes
Type 1 diabetes is a genetic and unavoidable condition, rather than the lifestyle-related type 2 diabetes.
It occurs mostly in people under 40 and a result of the pancreas failing to produce enough insulin to regulate blood sugars.
Too much or too little blood sugar can result in an attack where sufferers lose consciousness in serious cases.
Being overweight or obese increases the chances of developing the more common type 2 diabetes.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Your rights as an employee
The government has taken an increasingly tough line against companies that fail to pay employees on time. Three years ago, the Cabinet passed a decree allowing the government to halt the granting of work permits to companies with wage backlogs.
The new measures passed by the Cabinet in 2016 were an update to the Wage Protection System, which is in place to track whether a company pays its employees on time or not.
If wages are 10 days late, the new measures kick in and the company is alerted it is in breach of labour rules. If wages remain unpaid for a total of 16 days, the authorities can cancel work permits, effectively shutting off operations. Fines of up to Dh5,000 per unpaid employee follow after 60 days.
Despite those measures, late payments remain an issue, particularly in the construction sector. Smaller contractors, such as electrical, plumbing and fit-out businesses, often blame the bigger companies that hire them for wages being late.
The authorities have urged employees to report their companies at the labour ministry or Tawafuq service centres — there are 15 in Abu Dhabi.
