Tag Archives: georgia
Training in UAE for a hot run in the US
Training in UAE for a hot run in the US Sarah Young / 23 June 2013 The UAE is the perfect training ground for one extreme runner who will traverse hundreds of kilometres in searing heat in the United States next month. Dubai resident Dr Catherine Todd, 34, will run the Badwater Ultra-Marathon from July 15 to 17 in Death Valley, California, despite vowing to a friend after last year’s race never to do it again. Known as the world’s toughest footrace, runners on the 217km course scale a cumulative elevation of about 4,000 metres from the hottest, driest place in North America to Mount Whitney, the highest summit of continental United States. It has to be completed within 48 hours. The assistant professor at the University of Wollongong in Dubai, who focuses on biomedical engineering research, is no stranger to long distances, having run from Dubai to Fujairah last year, and completed ten 160km marathons and three 217km marathons. She has been in training for this invitation-only event, which takes 100 runners each year, since completing the same race last year, in a time of 36.5 hours — despite having a cold and ear infection. This year, she hopes to be the fastest woman on the course, aiming to complete it in under 30 hours. She will also be raising funds to help friend Richard Holland who was hit by a car in a “horrific accident” while cycling in Dubai last year. “He’s been taken back to South Africa, but the rehab costs are enormous.” Holland, who is in his early 30s, was now unable to speak, but had begun communicating with his mother by blinking, she said. “The worst thing is it could have been any of us out there. Richard was the safest cyclist we know.” Todd has just returned from a 13-hour, 160km trail run in Ohio, giving her some variety from her usual training regime here which involves road, desert and mountain runs, including back-to-back ascents of Jebel Hafeet, on the outskirts of Al Ain, starting at 3am. She trains between two to four hours each day, with a long run between five and 10 hours on the weekend. “I try to fit in a lot in my life…I believe you make time for the things you’re interested in — you’ll get up early and manage your time effectively. I don’t go out and party every night so that helps.” The UAE was the perfect training ground, she said. “I’m really lucky as a lot of people don’t have that exposure to the heat,” she said of the 55 degree heat. “Death Valley is absolutely horrible… hot, dry, barren. There’s a long stretch of asphalt which everyone hates and you have to run on for a very long time. “It’s like being out on the roads out of Dubai, quite rocky and deserty. “The issue in the dry heat is the sun piercing your skin. Throw some sand and a hot wind in there and it can really destroy your soul. It’s important to have very positive people in your crew.” Staying mentally positive during the race was incredibly important. “Your feet get trashed. It’s tough on your msucles, your whole body aches by the end, you’ve just got to push through the pain. But it’s not all downs…there’s highs as well.” Along with getting enough fluids, the biggest challenge would be forcing down food while running, including avocado on crisps, soup, lentils, salads and rice, and plenty of electrolyte drinks. Todd, who has lived in Dubai for seven years, got into marathon running at the university and was then inspired by a friend at a running club in Dubai to try out ultramarathons. “He told me about all the adventures he had, and I thought it sounded more interesting than just putting your head down and running a marathon to get a good time. It’s more of a challenge to finish…what will go wrong and how to deal with challenges as they arise. It’s also a good way to travel, and you meet a lot of people from different parts of the world.” sarah@khaleejtimes.com Continue reading
Desperately seeking loving homes
Desperately seeking loving homes Dhanusha Gokulan / 23 June 2013 You may or may not be a cat lover but it is very hard to not find Didi adorable. The orange-striped beauty, who was abandoned at a construction site and suffered from a broken paw for several weeks, is in desperate need of a permanent or foster home. Didi is one of a seasonally increasing number of neglected pets, which appeared to be abandoned by owners going abroad over the summer. “Didi is very friendly. She’s great, especially with kids. She was found in Ajman and a few shopkeepers were taking care of her. She had a piece of glass stuck in her paw and it was bent to almost 90 degrees,” said Ludmila Subbota, an animal rights activist with Rosso Carota Rescue Cats (RCRC). Didi was one of the four cats and 14 dogs who were put up for adoption at the second Cats and Dogs Adoption Day at the Zabeel Veterinary Hospital near the World Trade Centre, on Friday. Mixed breeds, salukis, stray cats, and abandoned house pets looking for homes were up for adoption at the hospital. Zabeel veterinary Hospital manager Hawra Al Hashimi said the second adoption day, after the first one in May, had gone well. “Our hospital provides the space, and works closely with a few agencies like Animal Protection Association Dubai (APA); RCRC; and Arabian Saluki Centre of Dubai (Ascod).” The cats and dogs which are up for adoption have been neutered and vaccinated by doctors at the Zabeel Veterinary Hospital. The group of volunteers from APA, RCRC, and Ascod find it very hard to find a safe home for the older dogs as most people prefer pups, particularly pedigree. The experts also suggested that dog owners abandon the pets before they leave for their summer holidays. “The biggest problem is the transient expatriate population. Animal owners are suddenly told that they cannot travel with the cat or dog. But making travel arrangements for their pets are not as expensive as it seems. When flying to Europe, an excess baggage ticket for a pet would cost the owner about 150 to 300 Euros,” said volunteer with Ascod Trine Lund Petersen. Surprisingly, several Salukis’ were up for adoption. “The Saluki breed garners a lot of respect in Arab culture. They are beautiful dogs and it is really surprising to see that people are just abandoning them. Most of them are found close to the outskirts and the desert region. Within the city limits, we sometimes find them in Ajman and Al Khan,” Petersen said. “The voluntary agencies don’t have a lot of funds to treat and protect these animals. Some of the cats and dogs have been micro chipped, (though) many others have not. The hospital provides them with 50 per cent off on treatment of these animals when they are brought in. After which, we put them up for adoption,” added Al Hashimi. Dr Sana Peera, a Veterinary doctor at the Clinic said: “We provide the agencies with a space and treatment for the cats and dogs. Once we have treated them, it is completely safe to take the animal in. All these cats and dogs need is a loving home.” Before finding a permanent home for the cats and dogs, they are placed in foster care for a period of about two weeks. However, if an adoptee is found for the dog, the agencies run a background check and visit the new owner’s home. “We make them sign several consent forms and we check out their houses before the animals are moved in. We check if the owners are truly serious about keeping the pet. We get them to sign consent forms and there is a clause which states that the pet can be returned to the agency, if the owner cannot manage with it,” said Subbota. She added: “I guess we need to raise more awareness. It would really help if a centralised micro chipping system was to be introduced.” dhanusha@khaleejtimes.com Continue reading
41% of Arab world’s Facebook users are from UAE
41% of Arab world’s Facebook users are from UAE Staff Reporter / 23 June 2013 Of all the Facebook users in the Arab world, the UAE has some 41 per cent — almost double the amount of the country next in line, according to the fifth edition of the Arab Social Media Report series. The report is part of a series spearheaded by the Governance and Innovation Programme at the Dubai School of Government, which conducted a regional survey with around 4,000 participants, exploring perceptions about the quality of schooling in the region, the use of technology and social media in the classroom at different educational levels, interruptions to schooling due to conflict, as well as views on educational reform. Analysing demographics, the report reveals that the UAE continues to score the highest amongst all Arab countries in terms of Facebook penetration at 41 per cent, while Egypt claims around 25 per cent of Arab Facebook users and Saudi Arabia has more than half 50 per cent of the Arab active Twitter users. However, for the first time, most GCC countries saw a drop in social media adoption for the first time in 2013. Mariyam Reshi, a 13-year-old Indian High School student said all of her classmates were on Facebook. “When we go home, we share the day’s happenings and like each other’s statuses.” When asked if she could fathom her world without FB, she giggled and said: “No way … I don’t know how my parents used to manage.” But parents may not be so enthusiastic about the widespread use of social networks, with the report showing they were concerned about the effect of social media, of Facebook and Twitter, on their school-going children. While 55 per cent of students said they used social media as a classroom resource, and 10 per cent of parents said their children have access to social media platforms in the classroom, more than half said their children’s classrooms did not encourage Facebooking or Tweeting. More than half of parents, 56 per cent, said they were worried that their children got distracted from other tasks with access to social media. Abeer Matthew, 48, father of 12-year-old twins Sherlyn and Jacob, said he was against the “invasion of technology in schools, at least till students reach grade 9”. Matthew said he did not much care for receiving homework assignments through email, forget about any social networking. Matthew, a management consultant in Abu-Dhabi said he had to travel a lot on work, and was constantly interacting with people for business who allowed their pre-teenage children to operate their own Facebook accounts, but it was not for him. “I don’t think it’s healthy … they need to be forming more human, one-to-one connections. When they leave the home and go away, they can make as many online associations as they please, while in school and in my house, no.” The research also surveyed parents in Arab countries suffering from political instabilities, violence and civil strife. Fadi Salem, Director of the Governance and Innovation Programme at the Dubai School of Government and co-author of the report, said: “With more than 55 million active Arab users of Facebook and 3.7 million of Twitter, social media is already playing a growing role in formal and informal education. The emergence of new concepts like ‘social learning’, ‘intelligent decision making networks’ and ‘massive open online courses’, is enabling educators, students and educational institutions to rely on social media tools.” The percentage of Arabic tweets generated reached 74 per cent of total tweets in the region in March 2013, up from 62 per cent a year ago. Facebook registered an increase of 10 million users between June 2012 and May 2013. The number of active Twitter users in the Arab World has also grown from just over two million to 3.7 million in the past year. In March 2013, Arab Twitter users generated 336 million tweets. news@khaleejtimes.com Continue reading
