More than 1,000 students and teachers joined a UAE national representative and participated in the Al Khail Mile on Thursday 7th November.
Students from host school GEMS International School (GIS) featured prominently on the winners’ podium. But athletes from GEMS Wellington Academy (WEK) and and GEMS New Millennium School (NMS) were strong competition in Al Khail.
The event was staged as part of the Dubai 30×30 Challenge and was kicked off with an energetic warm-up by ‘Athletes in School’.
Students from grades three, four and five from each school participated in grade-level races. The event began with grade three students competing alongside Dr Abdulla Al Karam, Chairman of the Board of Directors and Director General of the Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA).
Dr Abdulla Al Karam was joined in the race by Glen Radojkovich, Head of School (GIS), Neil Matthews, Principal (WEK) and Fatima Martin, Principal (NMS).
While all students made a valiant effort, the top three boys were from GIS with Zakaria Ferteux, Tomas Cicciolo and Mithun Sendilkumar topping the list of runners. It was a fantastic day for the Ferteux family, as Zakaria’s twin sister Janna came 2nd out of the grade three girls.
The grade four students eagerly awaited their race to commence whilst listening to the awe-inspiring ‘Team Angel Wolf’.
The race was set at a blistering pace and this continued the whole way throughout. It was another successful race for GIS with another top three finishers. Robyn Lindsay powered through to the finish line to grasp the winner’s title and was closely followed by her fellow Irish athlete and friend Katie Benson who had Roos Schouten chasing closely behind.
The GIS dynamic duo of Albert Klintell and Oliver Da Costa Cabral nabbed second and third place respectively.
Excitement had been building the whole day and reached fever point when the event headed towards the grade five race. Students were elated at the chance to meet and race against the UAE 100m gold medalist, Talal Al Alami.
Leading the way for the grade five race was Josephine Welling, Nour Magdy, Kent Takahashi and Lovro Zorc.
GIS were declared the overall winning primary school with a phenomenal 13 out of 18 podium finishes and many received amazing prizes thanks to the Moonkid sponsors.
Each of the students that participated contributed towards Dubai Cares charity and a cheque was presented to Dubai Cares by Mr Glen Radojkovich, Mr Neil Mattews and Ms. Fatima Martin.
All the competing students were congratulated for their efforts and the entire community was acknowledged for continuing to value healthy living and being active.