We had the opportunity to go to some camel races after one of Helen's students from the university invited her to go and see his camel racing. We met Rashed out at the track which was hard to find but worth being shown around,
The races were part of a huge camel fair with thousands of camels and people from all around the GCC there to compete (prize money goes down to tenth place). Don't ask me how it is funded but there is big prize money and expensive cars at stake.
Good racing camels are worth millions of dollars!
The grandstand.
Ready to race.
Handlers bring 4 -6 camels out for the start and get in side the barrier. Anything up to 50 camels in a race.
The barrier is up and they are off.
Chaotic scenes at the start of the race. One runner decided that he or she didn't want to take part so just turned around and went back to the start. (I think they only race the females but not sure. Will have ask Rashed about this one!)
Setting out on the long journey in the hot evening sun.
and the winner is...
Coming home - spot the electronic jockey
Recovering after a race.
5 km in around 8 minutes gets a camel rather hot and frothy at the mouth. There are three sizes of track, 5, 8 or 10 km and a string of vehicles with owners talking to their camels via the electronic jockey. Live TV coverage over the UAE apparently has a big following in this part of the world.
After the race. Cooling down -
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