Ultimate Racenight League set to bolster athletics in the Emirates

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  • One to watch: Megan Dingle.

    A first-of-its-kind athletics series, modelled after the Diamond League, will come to life in the UAE today where both budding and seasoned track and field contestants will gather to compete at Dubai Sports City.

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    The Ultimate Racenight League is the brainchild of Lisa Campbell – the founder of Ultimate Athletics Club. Campbell wanted to create a series of track and field meets to give athletes – not just from her club but from across the UAE and the Gulf region – a chance to compete.

    The league will consist of seven race nights to be staged from this month until May 2016, with each night featuring sprint, middle distance and long distance events on the track, as well as high jump and shot put on the field.

    The races will be divided by age group starting from U9 all the way to seniors. Around 200 athletes have already signed up but with the league open to clubs, schools and individuals, more are expected to take part as the season progresses, with registration on the day accepted.

    “There is barely any athletics in Dubai. We’re the only track and field club so we are buying out the competition,” Campbell told Sport360.

    “It’s hard to motivate athletes to train when there’s nothing to compete for. So this league was created for our club member to have some competition. But instead of members just competing against each other, we extended an open invitation so they can compete against people they don’t train with.”

    Competitors can accumulate points from each race night, which Campbell says will encourage participation, with league sponsors Saucony providing vouchers as prizes for the most outstanding performers of the day, voted by the officials, and for the record holders. The top three winners of the overall league will receive medals and trophies.

    While local clubs Al Nasr, Al Ahli or Al Wasl have active track and field contestants, and the UAE Athletics Federation has invested in runners like Asian champions Alia Saeed and Betlhem Belayneh, there are hardly enough meets staged in the country that can pit the very best from across the Emirates against each other. Campbell is trying to change that.

    “At the moment there’s a lot of talent in the UAE but they’re pushed into other sports, like rugby or football. I want athletics to be a sport in its own right with a future,” she said.

    “It gives the youth targets throughout the season; they’d want to improve their performances each race night. It would give some credibility to athletics in the UAE.

    “We want the times to be recognised so when they go to university they can get scholarships. But we’ll need electronic timing for that. Our hope is that we get sponsorship enough to raise money for electronic timing then that will give our athletes more of a standing when they go back home.”

    Besides the members of Ultimate Athletics, athletes from the UAE Athletics Federation and Al Ahli Club will be competing while 13 competitors from the Doha Athletics Club will be flying in from Qatar.

    Ultimate Athletics runners to watch include Darrell Elliott, who is expected to clock sub-10.5 seconds in the seniors 100m, and Megan Dingle, who is just 12 yet won the open category 5K event at last Friday’s ADCB Pink Run, clocking 19 minutes 38 seconds.

    “She’s definitely a future star, I think she’s one to watch on the race nights,” Campbell said of Dingle. “She’s running the 800m and it’ll be really interesting because some of the Doha Athletics Club athletes are also running that so it’s nice to see how she does against them.”

    Campbell added that the league will be used by the Dubai Affiliated School Sports Association (DASSA) for qualification purposes for their students. She says the involvement of various local entities has been a big boost for the league. 

    “I’d like to thank Mr Ahmad Al Kamali, the president of the UAE Athletics Federation, for giving us his support and including some of the national team athletes in our competition,” she says.

    Entry fees for each race night are Dh50 for track members and Dh80 for outsiders. For more information and registration, visit ultimateathleticsuae.com. 

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