Mira and Towel take top honours in Ice Warrior Challenge

Dubai: Morocco’s Mohammad Mira and Jessica Towl of the United Kingdom bagged the top honours in the Elite category at the 11th Ice Warrior Challenge that was held at Ski Dubai, Mall of the Emirates, on Friday.

Organised by Dubai Sports Council (DSC) in partnership with Ski Dubai, the Ice Warrior Challenge saw a spirited turnout, with participants representing many different countries, as well as government entities and clubs like Dubai Police and Al Dhafra Club.

Nasser Aman Al Rahma, Assistant General Secretary, DSC, was present at Ski Dubai along with Mohammad El Etri, Director, Majid Al Futtaim Global Snow Operations and Projects and a number of other officials from the council to support and encourage the participants.

Mira clocked a blistering 14 minutes, 51 seconds on the 3km commando assault course, which is one of the toughest of its kind in the sport. He finished ahead of UAE’s Ahmad Hajjo (16:08) and George Crewe (16:41) of the UK.

Towel, a regular podium-finisher in most of the obstacle races that take place throughout the year in Dubai, once again showed her prowess, to take the top spot among the Elite ladies with a time of 20:19 minutes. Belarus’ Olga Naumova took the second spot with a time of 21:50, while Tetiana Maltseva (22:20) of Ukraine was third.

In the Just for Fun category, Morocco’s Zouhaier Miraoui was fastest among men, while Afra Al Nuaimi of the UAE was quickest among the women. Miraoui clocked 20:02 minutes to finish ahead of UAE’s Abubaker Al Houqani (21:42) and Tariq Miqdadi (22:34) of Jordan. Al Nuaimi was almost two minutes quicker than Russia’s Olga Zolotova (29:35), while Liliana Fernandes (30:14) of Portugal was third.

“It’s really good, harder than I thought,” said Luke Garrett of the UK, who was participating in the Ice Warrior for the first time.

“It’s the first time I am doing this. It’s really good, really well-organised. Dubai Sports Council have done really well,” he added.

The Council has a diverse sports calendar catering to sports enthusiasts of all nationalities living in Dubai. The sports body is always looking to add more events that will encourage all members of the community to participate and embrace a fun and healthy lifestyle.

RESULTS

(Elite Male) 1. Mohammad Mira (Morocco) 14:51; 2. Ahmad Hajjo (UAE) 16:08; 3. George Crewe (UK) 16:41; 4. Othman Safi (Morocco) 16:59; 5. Buti Al Nuaimi (UAE) 17:45.

(Elite Female) 1. Jessica Towel (UK) 20:19; 2. Olga Naumova (Belarus) 21:50; 3. Tetiana Maltseva (Ukraine) 22:20; 4. Mariam Al Shamsi (UAE) 23:56; 5. Mouza Al Ghafli (UAE) 24:05.

(Just for Fun Male) 1. Zouhaier Miraoui (Morocco) 20:02; 2. Abubaker Al Houqani (UAE) 21:42; 3. Tariq Miqdadi (Jordan) 22:34; 4. Rich Zielinski (USA) 23:01; 5. Khalid Al Mulla (UAE) 24:00.

Just for Fun Female: 1. Afra Al Nuaimi (UAE) 27:53; 2. Olga Zolotova (Russia) 29:35; 3. Liliana Fernandes (Portugal) 30:14; 4. Irene De Wit (South Africa) 30:27; 5. Corina Ibbitson (UK) 30:52.