Gulf For Good charity event raises funds for two orphanages

Fun and games were had by all - the presenters and participants alike - in the Ultimate Pump Fund-raising Master class, which was held at Kelly's Health and Fitness Centre/Henry Africa's (The Bunker) on Sheikh Zayed Road recently.

The class was undertaken to raise funds for Brendan Coote's participation in the upcoming Golden Triangle Challenge, organised by Gulf For Good. On that night, Dhs 3,200 was raised which will go towards building two orphanages in Asia - one in Thailand and one in Vietnam.

More than 50 people turned up to shake, rattle and roll to the innovative drills devised by the presenters. First up was Joe Kofler, who took a group of early arrivals through a Schwinn-Aerobiking spinning session that was not for the faint-hearted. Then came Lolita Aird, who treated participants to a meringue warm-up which brought out the Latino in everybody.

Next was Clare Venn, currently women's champion of the Marriott Fitness Challenge, who put the fitness enthusiasts through their paces with a leg workout that would make David Beckham beg for mercy.

Clare was swiftly followed by Venancio D'Souza, currently men's champion of the Everest Fitness Challenge, who cooked up a dish of Thai kickboxing that was spicy enough for everyone's palate.

The next stage of the proceedings was a highly intensive upper body weights workout that has been refined and improved by Venancio over the last eight years. This part of the class, aimed at bringing the upper and lower body into balanced fitness, brought the participants into a new fitness zone.

For the remainder of the class, the presenters mixed and matched to make sure no muscle or fibre of the bodies in front of them was omitted from the workout.

Great prizes were made available by the Body Shop, StairMaster, Schwinn, Kelly's Health and Fitness Centre, Sketchers, Sandwich Express, Henry Africa's, Pocari Sweat, and the Gulf American clinic, so people went away with more than just sore muscles.

Clearly, everyone enjoyed themselves, and went home exhausted from the workout, but exhilarated from having helped raise funds for such a worthy cause.