Crowds turn up in hoards to support family and friends at Gov Games

Kite Beach saw visitors arrive for the penultimate day of the games

DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES - April 1 2019.

Wipeout obstacle at the Gov Games site on Kite Beach.

 (Photo by Reem Mohammed/The National)

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Crowds cheered for family, friends and their favourite government bodies at the second edition of Gov Games at Dubai's Kite Beach on Friday.

Gov Games brings together government organisations to participate in nine obstacles, with the winning team getting an award of Dh1million.

Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed launched Gov Games last year to motivate government employees as well as to test their mental and physical capabilities.

This week, Sheikh Mohammed increased the total prize from Dh2 million to Dh3 million, which will benefit runners-up at the games. The runners-up in each category will receive a prize of Dh300,000, while third-place finishers will each receive Dh200,000 per team.

Participants had to carry boxes, climb slopes and jump on planks suspended over water to win points for their teams.

Ranjana Singh was at the event with her eight-year-old daughter Anvita and her four-year-old son Aadyant to support her husband, a finance controller at Dubai Culture and Arts Authority, who was participating at the event.

“My husband is very excited and so is our family,” said Ms Singh. “He has been exercising at the gym and preparing for this.

“When he saw the obstacles on a video on YouTube, he resolved that he must do this. I am not nervous for him because I know he can do these obstacles."

“I am here to support my dad but it’s really hot,” said eight-year-old Anvita.

Morteza Zakeri, an Iranian resident in Dubai, was at the event to support his brother who works in the finance department at Dubai Government.

The family turned up in full strength bringing along the participant’s three-month-old baby.

“The whole family is here to cheer for him and it’s important to have such events," he said.

“We are excited he is participating. Our family is sporty and my brother loves sports, especially football. He is very good at sports and I think he will able to do all the obstacles successfully."

Mr Zakeri said his brother has been training for the event for months.

Lenka Nejedla, a resident in Dubai from the Czech Republic, was very excited to be at the games.

“I am not supporting any team. I don’t think we have such games back home but these are very important as they bring people together," she said.

Fadi Hani, a Lebanese spectator, was at the event to cheer for the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) in Dubai.

"I am supporting RTA as I am an RTA fan," he said.

Rhian Adams, a spectator at the games, found the obstacles challenging.

“It’s quite hard to train for this type of event because these obstacles aren’t easy to find in gyms in Dubai but it really tests your stamina and your determination," she said.

Geraldine Carlin, a resident from Ireland, said: “This is really interesting, cool and challenging. This is the first time I have attended this event. I didn’t really know much about the teams but these games are interesting to watch," she said.