Morocco’s Mohammed Mira and Jessica Towl of United Kingdom have bagged the top honours in the Elite category of the 11^th Ice Warrior Challenge, which was held on Friday morning at Ski Dubai, Mall of the Emirates.

Organised by Dubai Sports Council in partnership with Ski Dubai, the Ice Warrior Challenge saw a spirited turnout, with participants representing many different countries, as well as government entities and clubs like Dubai Police and Al Dhafra club.

Nasser Aman Al Rahma, Assistant Secretary General of Dubai Sports Council, was present at Ski Dubai along with Mohammad El Etri, Director of Majid Al Futtaim Global Snow Operations and Projects, and a number of other officials from the Council to support and encourage the participants.

Mira clocked a blistering 14minutes and 51seconds on the 3km commando assault course, which is one of the toughest of its kind in the sport. He finished ahead of UAE’s Ahmed Hajjo (16:08) and George Crewe (16:41) of the UK.

Towl, a regular podium-finisher in most of the obstacle races that take place throughout the year in Dubai, once again showed her prowess, to take the top spot among the Elite ladies with a time of 20:19. Belarus’ Olga Naumova took the second spot with a time of 21:50, while Tetiana Maltseva (22:20) of Ukraine was third.

In the ‘Just for Fun’ category, Morocco’s Zouhaier Miraoui was fastest among men, while Afra Al Nuaimi of the UAE was quickest among the ladies.

Miraoui clocked 20:02 to finish ahead of UAE’s Abubaker Al Houqani (21:42) and Tariq Miqdadi (22:34) of Jordan.

Afra Al Nuaimi, meanwhile, was almost two minutes quicker than Russia’s Olga Zolotova (29:35), while Liliana Fernandes (30:14) of Portugal was third.

All participants, however, had reasons to celebrate as they received a finisher’s medal after they returned their timing chip at the finish line, as well as a souvenir Ice Warrior t-shirt.

“It’s really good, harder than I thought,” said Luke Garrett of the UK, who was participating in the Ice Warrior for the first time. “It’s the first time I am doing this. It’s really good, really well-organised. Dubai Sports Council have done really well.”

Dubai Sports Council is keen to organise and support events like these, which encourage mass participation, allowing people of different age, abilities and fitness levels to take part. Dubai has also become the city of “Challenges” thanks to some of the world’s most exciting obstacle races, on all kinds of surface – from the desert to the beach, and snow to the sea. Some of the best-known Challenges being held annually in Dubai are Gov Games, Ice Warrior Challenge, Desert Warrior Challenge, Tough Mudder, NAS Night Challenge and the Aqua Challenge, which took place last week.

The Council has a diverse sports calendar catering to sports enthusiasts of all nationalities living in Dubai, and the Council is always looking to add more events that will encourage all members of the community – men and women – to participate and embrace a fun and healthy lifestyle.

RESULTS

Elite Male: 1-Mohammed Mira (Morocco) 14:51; 2-Ahmed Hajjo (UAE) 16:08; 3-George Crewe (UK) 16:41; 4-Othman Safi (Morocco) 16:59; 5-Buti Al Nuaimi (UAE) 17:45.

Elite Female: 1-Jessica Towl (UK) 20:19; 2-Olga Naumova (Belarus) 21:50; 3-Tetiana Maltseva (Ukraine) 22:20; 4-Mariam Al Shamsi (UAE) 23:56; 5-Mouza Al Ghafli (UAE) 24:05.

‘Just for Fun’ Male: 1-Zouhaier Miraoui (Morocco) 20:02; 2-Abubaker Al Houqani (UAE) 21:42; 3-Tariq Miqdadi (Jordan) 22:34; 4-Rich Zielinski (USA) 23:01; 5-Khalid Al Mulla (UAE) 24:00.

‘Just for Fun’ Female: 1-Afra Al Nuaimi (UAE) 27:53; 2-Olga Zolotova (Russia) 29:35; 3-Liliana Fernandes (Portugal) 30:14; 4-Irene De Wit (South Africa) 30:27; 5-Corina Ibbitson (UK) 30:52.