Thousands join walk

Nissar Hoath

ABU DHABI - Thousands of people of all ages took to the Yas Marina Circuit for a walkathon for good health on Friday afternoon. The ‘Walk for Life’ held under the patronage of Shaikha Fatima bint Mubarak Al Nahyan, wife of the late Shaikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, was held to raise awareness about diabetes. The event was organised by Imperial College London Diabetes Centre (ICLDC).

A huge number of families of different nationalities and backgrounds started pouring in to the world class F1 circuit from 3pm to register for the annual five-kilometre walkathon.

The event started after 3.30pm with interactive family entertainment, including fun, fitness activities, musical acts, drumming and more, while the walk started at 5pm.

“It is a great event with a lots of fun and health awareness. The most interesting about this event is it is for all. Here, you can see the young and old of both genders. There are small children, aged people and there are people with special needs to spread the message of how to keep yourself fit and have fun at the same time,” said Ginny, Filipina mother of two.

“Though we expected 15,000 people, about 10,000 men, women and children came for this awareness walk today (Friday). In fact, this number is still far greater than what we had last year,” said an official of ICLDC.

“Walk for Life encourages a healthy lifestyle by adopting a 30-minute brisk walk each day,” says an ICLDC message on display. On the organisers’ instructions, most of the participants were well prepared for the walk with comfortable walking shoes, flasks and bottles of mineral water to drink as they walked to avoid dehydration.

The organisers set up a corner where mineral water was available for the participants free of charge at the start line in easy-to-carry bottles in addition to water stations en route. “If you feel tired, uneasy or unwell, alert your fellow walkers and seek the help of the first walkathon guide you see,” was another instruction from ICLDC.

The participants were advised in advance to take plenty of rest the night before and do some light exercise to tone those muscles before the walk.

There were also special arrangements for children. Several corners were set up at the site for children to play and have fun under the watchful eyes of a team of guides and caretakers tasked for the job.

With this year’s successful walk, the organisers expect the next year’s event to be even bigger with a bigger participation.