Doha Festival City’s Outdoor Trail opens

DohaFestival City (DHFC) launched its Outdoor Leisure Trail on Saturday,attracting more than 600 enthusiasts who had the opportunity toexperience family and fitness fun.Members of the Qatar CyclingFederation kicked off proceedings with a fast-paced time trial aroundthe circuit, with David Nichols winning with a time of six minutes and10 seconds. Participants then walked, ran and cycled their wayaround the track surrounding the mall. According to the organisers, raceparticipants showcased a lot of passion and determination while therunning, walking and cycling sessions drew a huge crowd of bothparticipants and spectators.  XRebel stunt riders from Xtorkperformed three breath-taking shows that wowed spectators, who alsoenjoyed a special appearance from Red Bull BMX athlete, Mansoural-Safran. The riders also gave a number of spectators the chance toride BMX bikes and pull some of their own stunts. Visitors enjoyed afestival style event with Ikea, Toys R Us, Tim Hortons, Shake Shack, GoSport and Red Bull hosting kiosks in the event village. “We werevery excited to welcome our first visitors to the Outdoor Leisure Trail,it’s amazing to see our vision of creating a space for the wholecommunity, come to life,” DHFC general manager Trevor Hill said.“Thetrail has been specially designed for people of all ages and abilitiesto enjoy so we want to encourage everyone to come down, try it out andget active,” he stressed. The mountain bike cycle track has 13 differenttechnical trail features and offers various surfaces with inbuiltgradients and obstacles to suit all abilities of mountain bikers and wasdesigned by British company, Architrail. The running track also hasexercise stations along the route, allowing both casual and moreserious runners to exercise and enjoy the green spaces being created aspart of the project.Qatar Olympic Committee to celebrate World Walking Day FestivalQatarOlympic Committee (QOC), through the Department of Sports Affairs, willorganise the World Walking Day Festival under the auspices of the WorldOrganisation for Sport for All (TAFISA) on Thursday at the Museum ofIslamic Art Park. More than 500 students from various schools in Qatarare participating in the festival. The Organising Committee hasinvited the Ministry of Education and Higher Education to participate inthe event. A number of sports stars have also been invited toparticipate in the festival. The event will start at 8am and lasts until11pm.Abdulaziz al-Ghanim, Head of the Societal Unit at QOCDepartment of Sports Affairs, said it has completed all preparations fororganising this annual event. World Walking Day is celebrated inOctober each year by TAFISA, in order to establish the importance ofexercise, especially walking, because of its great health importance.The target is young people, who are exhorted to take up walking and makeit a part of their lives.By organising such an event,  QatarOlympic Committee aims to introduce the concept of sport for all. Ithighlights the rights of members of society in all categories withoutexception in participating in non-competitive sports activities thathelp to promote physical activity and to raise awareness of theimportance of walking as a sport.