Dubai Holding reaffirms commitment to encouraging UAE nationals to take up sports

On the eve of its participation, Dubai Holding has announced it will field the largest corporate team across all of its companies through drawing the participation of over 1,400 employees.

For the second year in a row, Dubai Holding, as a support sponsor of the Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon, has renewed its commitment to encouraging UAE national athletes to participate in the event. Dubai Holding will give away total prize money of AED86,000 to the fastest three UAE nationals in the women's and men's 42km marathon, pushchair and 10km races.

With Dubai Holding's support and in association with the Dubai Sports Council, the introduction of this new prize category for UAE nationals made a successful debut at last year's marathon. The 13th edition of the event that is set to take place on Friday, January 27, will seek to build on that success and attract the participation of a higher number of UAE national competitors.

Naser Mohamed Al Marzouqi from the Jumeirah Group, a member of Dubai Holding, who recorded a time of 03:02:03 to lead the UAE runners home in last year's 42km men's event will again be competing in the marathon this year with an eye on the prize for the fastest UAE national in the male category.

Cedric Betis, Corporate Wellness Manager at Dubai Holding said: "Our continuous support for the Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon is a major pillar of our commitment to encouraging local initiatives to promote a healthier and fitter lifestyle. We are particularly keen to see more UAE nationals getting involved in sporting activities; a reason why we are once again supporting the races within each category for UAE nationals. We also believe that the Dubai Marathon is an ideal platform to motivate our employees in their own move towards wellness."

Event Director Peter Connerton said he is proud and delighted to have the support of Dubai Holding. "For five years now, Dubai Holding has been one of our key partners and we thank them for their conviction and commitment. To register such a strong turnout of competitors also validates the organisation's priority to health and well-being."

Ahmed Al Kamali, General Co-ordinator of the Marathon, President of the UAE Athletics Federation and IAAF Council Member, welcomed the support for UAE competitors. He said: "As a federation, we are always looking for ways to encourage a larger participation of UAE competitors. In this regard, Dubai Holding's prize money initiative is to be highly applauded."

In 2007, Dubai Holding was the first Middle East organisation to launch a comprehensive corporate wellness programme to help employees attain optimal health and wellbeing through a series of lifestyle sessions on healthy nutrition, physical activity and stress management.

The programme addresses activities such as weight loss challenges, group fitness sessions, and pedometer challenges. It has also been enhanced through a partnership with Vielife, the global provider of employee health solutions, which gives staff access to a set of proven solutions such as wellbeing assessments, online personalized reports, targeted risk assessments, as well as lifestyle management programmes.