Dubai Ride 2023 to take over Sheikh Zayed Road again next month


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Dubai's biggest community cycling non-race will return on November 12.

Dubai Ride, an annual flagship event of Dubai Fitness Challenge, will take over the 14-lane Sheikh Zayed Road, open to cyclists of all ages and fitness abilities.

Participants of the free event, now in its fourth year, can choose from two route options, 4km and 12km, with the ride set to begin at the break of dawn from five different starting points.

For the 12km ride, the five starting points are Museum of The Future, Al Satwa, Coca-Cola Arena, Business Bay and Lower Financial Street. The 4km ride will start in Downtown Dubai. Both routes will end at Dubai Mall by 7.30am, after which Sheikh Zayed Road will reopen for motorists.

Registration is a must as those without Dubai Ride bibs will not be allowed to participate. Riders can use any type of bike, as long as it has at least two wheels, and is safe and roadworthy with working brakes. E-bikes are allowed, but scooters are not.

All riders must also wear helmets.

Participants of Dubai Ride 2022 cycling along Sheikh Zayed Road. Ruel Pableo for The National
Participants of Dubai Ride 2022 cycling along Sheikh Zayed Road. Ruel Pableo for The National

Organisers have stressed that Dubai Ride is not a race, and participants are encouraged to cycle at their own pace as they take in the sights of the city from Sheikh Zayed Road for a few hours.

“In 2022, Dubai Ride had its highest participation yet. Now, in its fourth year, cyclists from the UAE and around the world will be able to take part and contribute towards the goal of an even fitter, healthier and happier community, and showcase Dubai as a great place to live, work and visit,” said Ahmed Al Khaja, chief executive of Dubai Festivals and Retail Establishment, co-organisers of the event.

“Dubai Ride has become a cornerstone event on the Dubai Fitness Challenge calendar.”

Last year, 34,897 cyclists participated in Dubai Ride.

Started in 2017 by Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed, Crown Prince of Dubai, Dubai Fitness Challenge aims to transform the emirate into one of the world's most active cities by encouraging everyone to commit to doing physical activity for 30 minutes a day for 30 days.

This seventh DFC begins on October 28 and will feature free city-wide activities for everyone, irrespective of their age or fitness levels.

Registration for Dubai Ride is now open at www.dubairide.com. More information on Dubai Fitness Challenge is available at www.dubaifitnesschallenge.com

Company profile

Company name: Dharma

Date started: 2018

Founders: Charaf El Mansouri, Nisma Benani, Leah Howe

Based: Abu Dhabi

Sector: TravelTech

Funding stage: Pre-series A 

Investors: Convivialite Ventures, BY Partners, Shorooq Partners, L& Ventures, Flat6Labs

SPEC%20SHEET%3A%20SAMSUNG%20GALAXY%20S23%20ULTRA
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Getting there

The flights

Emirates and Etihad fly to Johannesburg or Cape Town daily. Flights cost from about Dh3,325, with a flying time of 8hours and 15 minutes. From there, fly South African Airlines or Air Namibia to Namibia’s Windhoek Hosea Kutako International Airport, for about Dh850. Flying time is 2 hours.

The stay

Wilderness Little Kulala offers stays from £460 (Dh2,135) per person, per night. It is one of seven Wilderness Safari lodges in Namibia; www.wilderness-safaris.com.

Skeleton Coast Safaris’ four-day adventure involves joining a very small group in a private plane, flying to some of the remotest areas in the world, with each night spent at a different camp. It costs from US$8,335.30 (Dh30,611); www.skeletoncoastsafaris.com

Company profile

Name: Steppi

Founders: Joe Franklin and Milos Savic

Launched: February 2020

Size: 10,000 users by the end of July and a goal of 200,000 users by the end of the year

Employees: Five

Based: Jumeirah Lakes Towers, Dubai

Financing stage: Two seed rounds – the first sourced from angel investors and the founders' personal savings

Second round raised Dh720,000 from silent investors in June this year

The five pillars of Islam

1. Fasting 

2. Prayer 

3. Hajj 

4. Shahada 

5. Zakat 

Company profile

Company: Verity

Date started: May 2021

Founders: Kamal Al-Samarrai, Dina Shoman and Omar Al Sharif

Based: Dubai

Sector: FinTech

Size: four team members

Stage: Intially bootstrapped but recently closed its first pre-seed round of $800,000

Investors: Wamda, VentureSouq, Beyond Capital and regional angel investors

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets

Manchester City 4
Otamendi (52) Sterling (59) Stones (67) Brahim Diaz (81)

Real Madrid 1
Oscar (90)

Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
  • Priority access to new homes from participating developers
  • Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
  • Flexible payment plans from developers
  • Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
  • DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
The Bio

Favourite place in UAE: Al Rams pearling village

What one book should everyone read: Any book written before electricity was invented. When a writer willingly worked under candlelight, you know he/she had a real passion for their craft

Your favourite type of pearl: All of them. No pearl looks the same and each carries its own unique characteristics, like humans

Best time to swim in the sea: When there is enough light to see beneath the surface

Karwaan

Producer: Ronnie Screwvala

Director: Akarsh Khurana

Starring: Irrfan Khan, Dulquer Salmaan, Mithila Palkar

Rating: 4/5

Key facilities
  • Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
  • Premier League-standard football pitch
  • 400m Olympic running track
  • NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
  • 600-seat auditorium
  • Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
  • An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
  • Specialist robotics and science laboratories
  • AR and VR-enabled learning centres
  • Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
F1 The Movie

Starring: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem

Director: Joseph Kosinski

Rating: 4/5

Who are the Sacklers?

The Sackler family is a transatlantic dynasty that owns Purdue Pharma, which manufactures and markets OxyContin, one of the drugs at the centre of America's opioids crisis. The family is well known for their generous philanthropy towards the world's top cultural institutions, including Guggenheim Museum, the National Portrait Gallery, Tate in Britain, Yale University and the Serpentine Gallery, to name a few. Two branches of the family control Purdue Pharma.

Isaac Sackler and Sophie Greenberg were Jewish immigrants who arrived in New York before the First World War. They had three sons. The first, Arthur, died before OxyContin was invented. The second, Mortimer, who died aged 93 in 2010, was a former chief executive of Purdue Pharma. The third, Raymond, died aged 97 in 2017 and was also a former chief executive of Purdue Pharma. 

It was Arthur, a psychiatrist and pharmaceutical marketeer, who started the family business dynasty. He and his brothers bought a small company called Purdue Frederick; among their first products were laxatives and prescription earwax remover.

Arthur's branch of the family has not been involved in Purdue for many years and his daughter, Elizabeth, has spoken out against it, saying the company's role in America's drugs crisis is "morally abhorrent".

The lawsuits that were brought by the attorneys general of New York and Massachussetts named eight Sacklers. This includes Kathe, Mortimer, Richard, Jonathan and Ilene Sackler Lefcourt, who are all the children of either Mortimer or Raymond. Then there's Theresa Sackler, who is Mortimer senior's widow; Beverly, Raymond's widow; and David Sackler, Raymond's grandson.

Members of the Sackler family are rarely seen in public.

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Sole survivors
  • Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
  • George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
  • Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
  • Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
What can victims do?

Always use only regulated platforms

Stop all transactions and communication on suspicion

Save all evidence (screenshots, chat logs, transaction IDs)

Report to local authorities

Warn others to prevent further harm

Courtesy: Crystal Intelligence

Updated: October 12, 2023, 5:36 AM`