Dubai: A British fitness trainer is taking an old-school military exercise and turning it into a huge charity fitness competition that people can join to raise money for three special needs centres in Dubai.
Frank Spencer’s love for sports and interest in helping others has encouraged him to combine the two and get the larger community together to compete in a knock out tournament in the style of a race carrying heavy loads this November.
Speaking to Gulf News about the upcoming Fit & Furious Charity Event, which has been approved by Emirates Red Crescent, the former British soldier said the competition will be the first of its kind in the UAE for anybody looking for a sports challenge and a good cause.
“I was looking at organising something that could be interesting to watch for spectators and could get athletic people from the various nationalities here in the UAE to come together in different teams to compete in something called a stretcher race,” said Spencer.
The military exercise, he explained, involves carrying a heavy stretcher over a long distance and in one steady pace. However, to make it more competitive and interesting to watch for spectators, he had to tweak the exercise around.
“Instead of just running around with heavy weight for 10 miles, I wanted to have participants carry a stretcher loaded with sandbags in five different shuttles of 75 metres. Each shuttle sprint up and down the football pitch will increase in weight until 300kg and then decrease to a light weight as they unload the stretcher.”
During the qualifying event on November 20 and 21, Spencer said residents can give it a shot and make their national teams.
The top six fittest participants from each nation will be chosen based on how fast they are. However, only the top 20 fastest teams can move forward to the finals on November 28 to compete against each other.
“The national trial session will be held at Fitness HQ in Umm Suqeim from 9am to 6am and will be specific to what the main event will be like but with fewer weights and without using the stretcher, which is being custom made,” he said.
Spencer, who had raised Dh50,000 in 2014 for Dubai Autism Centre (DAC), after completing several endurance challenges, said he feels obliged to help special needs centres and hopes people would join this cause to help others in the community.
“Special needs centres don’t have a proactive team to go out and raise money, I want to be that proactive team by organizing such events and bringing those with strength and anaerobic fitness to raise Dh10,000 to Dh20,000 with me for each of the centres I’m supporting.”
Through sponsorship, Spencer said money can be raised and donated to Rashid Centre for Special Needs, Al Manzil Centre for Special Needs and Al Noor.
“Spectators can come down and cheer for their countrymen during the finals. The top three winning teams will be handing the cheques to the centres, which will make them feel that they have personally donated it through their efforts,” said Spencer, adding that there will be a bunch of activities for families and kids as well.
Through sharing the Facebook page “Fit & Furious” Spencer believes the event can be a success.