Renowned adventurers Abdulla Al Hammadi and Pierre Daniel set out to begin their quest to cycle around Qatar in the early hours of Tuesday this week from Katara Cultural Village.
The pair will cover a distance of more than 500 kilometres within the course of four days, visiting schools around Qatar to raise awareness on road safety and the health benefits of physical activity. They will not be assisted by a support car during the ride and will camp overnight in three different locations.
Their riding adventure, ‘Cycling Around Qatar’, is set to conclude this Friday, 16 November at Aspire Zone.
Promoting Road Safety and Physical Activity in Qatar
60-year-old Abdulla Al Hammadi is a well-known figure when it comes to promoting sports in Qatar. He regularly takes part in cycling, marathon and other endurance events.
Pierre Daniel is also an endurance sports enthusiast and a certified coach. The 37-year-old Frenchman who lives in Qatar, have successfully completed numerous marathons, ultramarathons, and Ironman events in Qatar and around the world. He met Al Hammadi during a charity cycling ride in Europe three years ago and they became close friends. Earlier this year, Pierre completed an unassisted solo run around Qatar covering a distance of over 477 kilometres.
The pair have decided to go on this ride together to raise awareness about road safety and the importance of physical activity especially among young school children.
Daniel said that when he ran around Qatar, he was trying to demonstrate the huge potential that everyone needs to seek and develop in himself.
It was really wonderful to see that it meant a lot to many people. Now I want to do that again, but this time it will be about the community, specially the kids. We want to show them that leading an active lifestyle is good for your health, and also to raise their awareness of safety on the road. It will be a great experience for us.’
Day One will see Al Hammadi and Daniel covering a distance of 60 kms between Doha and Al Dhakira, then on Wednesday they will go for a 150-km trip to Al Jumayliyah. That will be followed by a 130-km ride to Salwa on Thursday, before completing the ride on Friday with a 150-km ride that will end at Aspire Zone.
The pair will visit schools in different cities around Qatar during the ride. They already kicked off the campaign with visits to two schools in Doha, Ahmad Mansour School in Westbay and Lycée Voltaire in Al Waab. Children at both schools were eager to learn every detail about cycling and the planned trip.
That’s exactly what they wanted to see, according to Al Hammadi.
All these young kids asking every kind of question about the bike, road safety, cycling and our ride. It’s absolutely amazing. They can now go and explore this sport. I am sure that it will make a huge difference in their lives.’
‘Cycling Around Qatar’ is sponsored and supported by Aspire Zone, Katara, Qatar Cycling Federation, Qatar Cyclists, Rasen Sports, MBM Transport, Q-Soft, and Silverfox Digital Communications.