Dubai
Racing camels from the Western Region of the UAE underlined their supremacy on day seven of the 2017 Al Marmoum Heritage Festival being held at the Dubai Camel & Racing Club in Al Marmoum.
Despite a noticeable rise in temperatures at the desert track and its surrounding areas, the quality of racing remained of the highest standard and yielded some outstanding performances and fast times.
Competing in the Haul, older females category, Makrama (meaning Generosity) recorded the fastest time of the day, covering the 5km course in nine minutes, 09.4 seconds.
A local hybrid, a camel renowned for its speed, the old lady’s outstanding performance earned her proud owner, Matar Ali Ghadeer Al Katabi a luxury Toyota Land Cruiser Station Wagon V6. his second at the festival.
It was the second luxury car won by Margham Village-based Al Katabi at the festival.
The Western Region’s camel owners, breeders and trainers continued to reap the rewards at the 12-day extravaganza with another victory in the 8km race for local Purebred older females with Ezwa (Belonging). The winner clocked 12:24:3 minutes for the distance to win a Luxury Range Rover for her owner Salim Tami Al Amri.
A second luxury Range Rover left the Al Marmoum track for Margham, home of owner/trainer Saeed Sultan Obaid Bin Markhan, whose female camel, Bidaya (Beginning) outstayed her rivals over the 8km trip to cross the finish line in 12:37:3 minutes.
In total 32 races were held over two sessions for tribesmen’s camels.
After the crack of dawn, action began at Al Marmoum where the mighty UAE-bred camels displayed incomparable performances to continue the trophy haul of their passionate owners who were seen celebrating each victory as if it was their first.
In the morning sessions, two big prizes allocated for older females was won by Al Dheeba (A Female Wolf), whose owner Mohammad Zayed Khalfan Al Mansouri, drove home with a luxury Toyota Station Wagon V6. The winner clocked a time of 09:10:3 minutes for the 5km race.
Ali Saeed Bin Saroud, the dynamic CEO of the Dubai Camel & Racing Club, expressed his appreciation and delight at the success of the annual festival, which is the highlight of the season and the culmination of camel racing season for the 2016-2017.
With prize money in excess of Dh150 million the Al Marmoum Heritage Festival is one of the richest and most prestigious camel racing festivals anywhere in the GCC and Middle East, if not the world.
The festival culminates on Monday, April 17, with four prestigious races for the Golden Swords for camels owned by Shaikhs and their Excellencies.