250 women to Pedal For Peace across the Emirates

Dubai: More than 200 women are set to ride their bicycles across various parts of the country on Saturday in a bid to raise awareness on peace and cultural understanding in the Middle East.

The Emirates Cycling Federation has teamed up with the UK-based charity Follow The Women to participate in the Pedal for Peace initiative, from February 16 to 23.

More than 130 women from the UK charity organisation will be participating in the peace initiative, alongside 100 UAE female residents.

“This is our first time participating in this event and we are considering to continue our partnership with Follow the Women, and carry it out every year,” said Nisreen Darwish, event organiser of the Emirates Cycling Federation.

Follow The Women is a UK-based registered charity that works to build bridges between women from diverse cultures and beliefs to enhance global knowledge and understanding of the Middle East, and to make a positive impact in communities.

“We have a team of 45 women who are part of our organisation and we managed to receive some response of residents who were interested in participating. Due to the short amount of time in organising the event, we were not able to reach out to as many women as we wanted but next year we aim to make it bigger,” explained Darwish.

The cyclists will start the first leg of their journey in Dubai on Saturday at Al Mamzar, and will then cycle on Sunday across Al Khawaneej and Jumeirah Corniche. For the remainder of the week, the 250 women will cycle along the corniches of Fujairah, Ras Al Khaimah, Umm Al Quwain and Ajman, before ending at Abu Dhabi.

Since 2004, Follow The Women rides have been held in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Palestine and have involved more than 1,800 women from more than 40 countries. Each participating country has a team of dedicated women who fundraise for the team’s projects.

“We believe that by bringing together women from all over the world to ride together, to experience different cultures and to meet new people, we are a real non-threatening, apolitical force for peace,” said Detta Regan, founder of Follow The Women.

Funds raised during the ride across the Emirates will be donated to the Red Crescent for specific projects in Palestine and other areas in the Middle East.