A group of cyclists traversed all seven emirates and covered a distance of 460 kilometres in the process. The journey was made to mark the UAE National Sports Day. The cyclists covered the distance in three days.

On Wednesday (15th February, 2017), their first day, the seven team members started their journey from Fujairah. They cycled to Ras Al Khaimah where they rested for a while.

From Ras Al Khaimah, they cycled to Umm Al Quwain and Ajman on Thursday morning. They then crossed into Sharjah and then Dubai.

At about 4AM on Friday, the group set off from Dubai to Abu Dhabi and finished at the Breakwater UAE flag on Abu Dhabi Corniche at about 10:30AM.

The team leader of the ‘Seven Cyclists’, Faisal Al Nuaimi, 40, came up with the idea of traversing the emirates. He said it feels good to have completed the cycling expedition.

“This has been my longest journey and I am happy that I and the team have completed it safely,” he said.

“It hasn’t been such a tough one, though the terrain in some parts of Fujairah and Ras Al Khaimah where we had to do a lot of climbing sometimes made it a little challenging.”

Al Nuaimi, who is the General Manager of Ajman Tourism Development Department, said he came up with this idea after Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum announced February 16 as the UAE Sports Day.

“As a sports enthusiast, I thought about a sport that could bring all the seven emirates together and can combine people of all nationalities and decided to arrange the ‘Seven Cyclists’ biking through the seven emirates.”

“We also wanted to send a message to people that sport or exercise should be part of their daily activities.”

British expat, Nick Watson, 46, another cyclist from Dubai said, “It has been such a great journey and apart from being a little bit windy in parts of Fujairah and RAK, we didn’t get any difficulty.”

Watson from the Team Angel Wolf, a cycling club in Dubai, said he loves health and exercise. He and his disabled son were part of the ‘Seven Cyclists.’
“With sport activities like cycling, we can get more people into doing exercise so they can have good health.”

The other riders on the team were two South African expats, a French national and a Danish expat.

To prepare for the journey, the ‘Seven cyclists’ group took part in long-distance cycling, swimming and running. They ate health food too.

The number seven represents the unity of the seven emirates, while the cyclists were of different nationalities, explained Al Nuaimi.