The Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon. Runners compete in the 10 km race. (Photo: Antonie Robertson/The National)
The Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon. Runners compete in the 10 km race. (Photo: Antonie Robertson/The National)
The Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon. Runners compete in the 10 km race. (Photo: Antonie Robertson/The National)
The Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon. Runners compete in the 10 km race. (Photo: Antonie Robertson/The National)

Other Sport

While the pros chase records at the Dubai Marathon, others eye personal bests

The professionals might get all the attention, but for some UAE residents, the 2016 Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon provides a perfect opportunity to improve on their own personal best times.

Ali Khaled

January 20, 2016

  • English
  • Arabic

DUBAI // The professionals might get all the attention, but for some UAE residents, the 2016 Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon provides a perfect opportunity to improve on their own personal best times.

“The Dubai Marathon was the first marathon I ran, back in 2012,” Louise Oakley, a freelance journalist from the UK, said. “I absolutely loved it. I ran it again in 2013, along with the London Marathon, where I got my personal best of 4 hours, 13 minutes.”

Work commitments have meant she could not run the past two races in Dubai, but Oakley is determined to take advantage of just how accessible the Dubai Marathon is.

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“I really missed it, so last summer I decided to get back into running properly and do Dubai again,” said Oakley, 33, who has lived in Dubai for eight years. “It’s on my doorstep, there’s no complicated ballot process, the weather’s perfect, and the course is flat, no excuses really. I’ve entered the Paris Marathon this year on April 3, and I’m treating Dubai as a warm up for that.”

Having been out of regular training for two years, a new regime was needed.

“I started training on September 1 when the humidity was still fairly high and I couldn’t manage 10K without a couple of breaks,” she said. “I’ve run regularly since then, going out two or three mornings a week on the track on Palm Jumeirah or Jumeirah Beach, which are both perfect for training, and doing a long run every Friday with the Dubai Creek Striders.

“It’s amazing how quickly you see improvements when you run regularly. It’s just about committing the time and making it a habit. The longest training run I’ve done was 37km on January 2, so mentally, I think I’m ready. My head will want to quit before my legs, so this mental preparation is important.”

Chris Jones, a UAE resident of three years, has unfinished business with the Dubai Marathon.

“I got inspired back into running in late 2014, as I wanted to shift some weight before my Dubai wedding in March 2015,” he said. “I achieved my weight goal, and also took part in the marathon last year. Unfortunately, at 32km I pulled up injured and hobbled to the end. It will be different this year, I want a personal best.”

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● Company: Bidzi

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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

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Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

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“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”

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