Walking competition prize - a car!

Without a hint of irony, a competition in Dubai to encourage walking offer the 1st prize winner a car!

Walking competition rewards winners with cars

The National staff

Last Updated: Mar 4, 2011

DUBAI // The winners of a Dubai contest to encourage people to walk more will be rewarded with… a car.

The Yallah Walk campaign, which starts tomorrow, will award those who walk the furthest distance over the next two weeks at walking tracks in five of the emirate's parks.

There are 12,000 prizes up for grabs, including LCD televisions, BlackBerries, PlayStations, iPads, iPods and four annual memberships to Fitness First gym.

Some 40,000 items will also be given away at the participating parks, such as toys, T-shirts and baseball caps.

But the grand prize, to be awarded to the man and woman who log the most kilometres, is a car. The make and model of the car have not yet been confirmed because organisers are still in talks with various sponsors.

The prizes were announced yesterday by Obaid Salem Al Shamsi, assistant director general of Dubai Municipality, at an event in Zabeel Park, the site of one of the walking tracks.

"This will be one of our most prominent projects," said Mr Al Shamsi, "because it is open to all nationalities and age groups."

Registration opened on March 1 and will continue until March 6 on www.walkingdubai.ae or at participating parks.

After registering, participants are given a badge and a wristband with a barcode that must be scanned at the start and end of each track. This will calculate the distance walked by each participant electronically. A supervisor will be stationed at each scanning stations to ensure walkers do not cheat.

Registered walkers will be able to log on to the website to check how many kilometres they have logged.