Dubai Sports World, together with Team Angel Wolf and Omnicom Media Group, hosted the inaugural ‘Together We Can’ campaign on Monday to raise awareness about children with disabilities in sports.
Two customised wheelchairs provided by Omnicom Media Group were available to give children with disabilities the opportunity to race around the track at Dubai Sports World.
The wheelchair racing also marked the seventh anniversary of the summer venue at the World Trade Centre hence why Nick Watson and his son Rio – who form Team Angel Wolf – decided to do complete 7km at 7am on August 7th.
“It was unbelievable. We had an amazing turnout from the general public who have been following through social media. It was a great first for us and a great success,” said Watson, a former Royal Marine and fitness expert, who has been a Dubai resident since 1996.
“The venue is just awesome, it’s huge, and they have so many activities there. It’s brilliant to have an indoor venue where multiple sports can be played throughout the UAE summer.”
Team Angel Wolf started officially one year ago as a non-profit organisation with the aim of getting the community involved.
At the centre of Team Angel Wolf is 13-year-old Rio, who suffers from Q44 Deletion De Novo, which means he struggles with walking and communicates through sign language.
Along with dad Nick, the dynamic duo have competed in 83 gruelling races in the UAE over the past two years.
Whether it’s a triathlon, a tower run, a cycle or straight running race, the pair are always out in force raising awareness and getting the community behind the work they do.
“The idea is to raise awareness and to inspire the community to get healthy. There’s no excuse to not get out and do sport and activities,” said Watson.
“We wanted to build awareness through racing, but now, the focus is the ‘Together We Can’ campaign to let the community experience what I do and for them to get involved.”
This initiative aims to host free weekly community activities for children with disabilities to enjoy sports with their families and volunteers in their local area.
Nick plans to build the campaign going forward, with the aim of getting more wheelchairs for people to get involved to see the work himself and Rio do.
He added: “When we have more chairs we will now run a regular programme, going every Sunday night down by Sunset Mall in Jumeirah, so we can show the community what we do. Our goal is to have 10 chairs by the end of the year!
“I’d love to have 10 chairs for the Dubai Marathon in January and find nine athletes who want to push athletes for the race. We can run together with the ten chairs with the aim of doing the marathon in sub-4 hours. It’ll give exposure for something quite unique.”
