The first Urbanathlon to be held in the U.A.E. took place at Yas Marina Circuit on Friday and 600 of the toughest residents went along to drag themselves through almost 10 kilometres of obstacles.
A wide range of participants went along to try to earn a medal and the bragging rights for being "tough enough” – the race's motto.
Reaching the 10km point, however, is no breeze. To get to the end, competitors had to crawl under Aston Martin cars, face high-pressure water jets, leap across oil barrels and swing through monkey bars, all the while carrying a little extra weight after negotiating the mud pit at the start of the race.
The winner was 32-year-old James Buchanan, from the UK, but the biggest challenge for him was not the actual obstacles themselves.
"Definitely the obstacles were hard but it was the distance in between the obstacles in the heat that made it a more challenging obstacle race than any I have done before,” he said, after finishing in 39 minutes and 39 seconds, a very impressive time for a 10km race, even without obstacles.
He won a round-trip ticket to the US and a chance to compete in the Urbanathlon there.
The event has taken place in more than 16 cities across the world.
Also taking part on Friday, but in a less serious fashion were German father and son Gerhard and Edwin Tegtmeyer.
"We are here to compete in a great run,” said Gerhard, 57, "but we are also here to show what the old can do, compared to the young.”
Speaking ahead of the race, Gerhard, who competes regularly in triathlons, said he wanted to pit himself against his 18-year-old son and his friends.
"We have a bet, it will feel like a fight and I haven't prepared much, I just registered to try to have this fun challenge with my son and his friends.”
Teenager Edwin said: "Yeah, he challenged me and I think he's going to win, it's a lot of running and I'm honestly just better at skating. I think this will be a huge challenge but we are here for the fun.”
Running parallel to the individual part of the race was a team competition, where gyms, fitness centres, corporate teams and even just teams of friends compete for the win.
Participating as part of the team from Oryx Fitness Bootcamp, Dyala Mahboobah, 21, said that the event, for her, was to see how far she could push herself.
"I'm here to challenge myself and to see to what level I can reach,” said Ms Mahboobah. "I'm a very competitive person and I'm looking to finish strong.”
A mechanical engineering student at the Petroleum Institute, traditionally a male-dominated field, Ms Mahboobah viewed the Urbanathlon as an opportunity to prove women's prowess in endurance events.
"I want to prove that ladies are tough, it's not only the men with the muscles – anything is possible,” she said.
As someone who has helped Ms Mahboobah build up her strength, Minhal Pereira, a trainer at Oryx Fitness, said training for the event was basic.
"We've been training hard, basic cardio and trying to get some body weight exercises – it's basically keeping ourselves fit,” said the 23-year-old.
"It's a competition, of course, but it's more about us having fun and just trying to see what level we are at right now.”
Source:The National