DUBAI // Thousands of runners took to the streets around Dubai Creek on Friday morning for the 12th annual Dubai Half Marathon.
This year the course record was broken by almost a minute as Ismail SSenyange, from Uganda, won in a time of one hour and eight minutes.
“I feel great because that was my target before the race and I managed to achieve it,” SSenyange said. “Ideally, I would have liked to have been 20 to 30 seconds faster but I can’t complain.
“I didn’t do any special training for this as I had already run the Chennai marathon a few days earlier so I still had the endurance for that.”
The 21-kilometre run started and finished at Dubai Creek Golf and Yacht Club and took 2,000 competitors on a scenic route along the Creek.
The event has grown to become one of the most popular events on the running calendar for people from across the GCC.
John Young, event organiser and a member of the Dubai Creek Striders running club, said the half-marathon was as much a community event as a competition.
“We had 2,000 runners taking part this year and they encompass the full range of people, from elite runners to those doing it for the first time,” Mr Young said.
“People don’t realise how beautiful Dubai is until they do this race. The route takes you right around the Creek, passing where they load the dhows and abras, and through Al Shindagha tunnel.”
The popularity of the race is such that it was fully booked weeks in advance, he said.
“We keep it to about 2,000 runners because of the logistics involved and we want it to be as enjoyable as possible for everyone taking part,” Mr Young said.
“We could have more people in future because the interest is there, but it has to be done in the right way.”
Runners set off at 6.30am. Anne-Mari Hyrylainen, a professional runner from Finland, won the women’s category in one hour and 18 minutes.
“I’m based with the Dubai Creek Striders so this is my home race and I wanted to do well,” Hyrylainen said. “My only plan was to go out as hard as possible and that worked.
“I’m also planning on running the Dubai Marathon in a couple of months and this is a good way of building up to that.”
Many runners from outside the emirate also took part. Chad Lasater, an American with the Abu Dhabi Striders running club, was the first to cross the finish line from his team in a time of one hour, 20 minutes.
“This is the fourth year I’ve taken part and it’s always a wonderful event to be a part of,” Lasater said.
“My plan was to take it easy at the start and then do regular negative splits, but it didn’t turn out like that.”
Joost Van de Venne, a Dutch runner based in Doha, took part with a group of friends from Qatar.
“It’s the first time I have taken part and it is really well organised here,” Van de Venne said.
“I was going well until I hit the wall at around 15km but I managed to keep going because the finish line was so close.
“I’m really happy that I took part and I’m hoping to return to Dubai for the full marathon in January.” The organisation of the event drew praise from officials of the UAE Athletics Federation.
“This is such a wonderfully organised event that we are always delighted to be involved,” said Liesa Euton, race director for the federation.
“Not only do these types of events encourage people to take up sport and become physically active, it is also an opportunity for us to pick out the potential stars of the future.”
For more details about the Dubai Creek Striders, visit www.dubaicreekstriders.org.
nhanif@thenational.ae
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The Outsider
Stephen King, Penguin
Test series fixtures
(All matches start at 2pm UAE)
1st Test Lord's, London from Thursday to Monday
2nd Test Nottingham from July 14-18
3rd Test The Oval, London from July 27-31
4th Test Manchester from August 4-8
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Fuel economy 12.2.L / 100km
Sleep Well Beast
The National
4AD
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
