DUBAI // It is a race not for the faint of heart.
For those who dare, the Reebok Spartan Race is coming to the UAE for the first time.
Participants will have to clamber through mud, duck under barbed-wire barriers, jump over flaming coals and pound out sets of burpees.
“People can expect to see mud, mud and more mud,” said Rayyan Yacob Agha, managing director of the event.
“They can expect to see challenging obstacles and a lot of camaraderie.”
Almost 2 million people have taken part in races in 21 countries. The event usually has three levels of difficulty – the Spartan Sprint, Spartan Super, or Spartan Beast – but the UAE race will have only the five-kilometre sprint option.
The timed race, which challenges participants to surmount more than 15 obstacles, will be held in Dubai on February 20.
The organisers plan to introduce all three levels of race difficulty to the emirate next year.
“We want people to catch the Spartan buzz,” said Mr Agha, a 38-year-old Syrian.
“Then people can do the Spartan Super and the Spartan Beast.
“The sprint is not extreme but our objective is that everyone can do the race. It is a challenge, don’t get me wrong, but people can do this.
“We have a lot of challenges. People such as double amputees come to our races, and we are connecting with the disability section of the Dubai Sports Council to encourage everyone to do this race.”
The obstacles for the Spartan Race are often kept under wraps until the race day itself, but organisers have said that mud pools, a rope climb, a slippery wall, barbed-wire trenches, a spear throw, a fire jump and a tyre flip are among the challenges participants can expect.
In races in other countries Spartans have been required to navigate a cargo net, traverse monkey bars and complete tests of strength, such as pulling blocks of stone through sand.
Aside from the fun, the event has a serious message. “The Spartan Race … is a health and wellness platform,” Mr Agha said. “It is not just about coming down and running and ‘hey it is all fun’. We have changed a lot of people’s lives with the Spartan Race.
“This is what we want to do with this race, to get people off the couch to the race and give them a better and healthier lifestyle.”
That message is particularly important in this country, where lifestyle disorders caused by obesity and a sedentary way of life are prevalent, according to Mr Agha.
“People like to say we have one of the highest obesity rates in the world – we are on the podium. The Spartan Race aims to get people to wake up, get up and to ‘Spartan up’ as we like to say,” he said.
Dietary and training tips are available on the Spartan Race website.
There are also financial rewards for the race at the Jebel Ali racecourse. A prize pot of Dh55,000 will be split among the top three male and top three female participants, the “dark horse” (a participant who has impressed the judges) of the race, and the most exceptional performance by a disabled participant.
All participants will get a medal, T-shirt, cap and nutrition pack at the finish line. There will also be a junior 1.8km race with varying obstacles.
Visit spartanrace.ae for more information.
jbell@thenational.ae
