BARKA: The competitions of His Majesty the Sultan Camel Festival were launched on Monday at Royal Camel Corps Racing Track in Barka. The 4-day competition is supported by Royal Court Affairs represented by the Royal Camel Corps (RCC), and organised by Oman Camel Racing Association. The RCC will buy the best camel that records the best time.
The event includes 62 rounds in different categories to win valuable prizes including 27 cars and 18 icons including daggers and cups.
The first day was dedicated for the ‘Hagayeg’ category, two-year-old for 4-km distance. Sixteen races took place in the morning with cash prizes for the top 10. In the afternoon, nine main races were held with car prizes for the winner and cash prizes for the top 10.
‘Samaha,’ which snatched the title of the opening round, is coached by Hammoud bin Hamad al Wahaibi and owned by Hammoud bin Hamad al Wahaibi. ‘Moyah’ owned by Mohammed bin Shliouh al Junaibi, claimed the second round. ‘Al Nasser’ owned by Hilal bin Jamil al Saeedi, snatched the third round award. ’Mahabah’ owned by Mohammed bin Ali al Wahaibi, won the fourth round prize. ‘Shomok,’ owned by Mansour bin Nasser al Lahifi, finished first in the fifth round.
‘Al Zaheyah’, owned by Mohammed bin Sultan al Darai, was the champion in the sixth round. ‘Mukalif’, owned by Abdullah bin Hamad al Hashemi, snatched the seventh round honours. ‘Wasef’, owned by Ali bin Rashid al Omari, grabbed the title in the eighth round.
‘Al Thabi’, owned by Ali bin Rashid al Omari, won the ninth round. ‘Al Saab’, owned by Nasser bin Suleiman al Wahaibi, finished first in the 10th round. In the 11th round, ‘Lamha’, owned by Abdullah bin Humaid al Omari, was on top. The 12th round was won by ‘Mlabi‘ owned by Rashid bin Obaid al Wahaibi. The 13th round was won by ‘Shahenyah’ and is owned by Abdullah bin Saeed al Wahaibi, while ‘Hamlool’ owned by Mohammed bin Amer al Maliki topped the 14th round. ‘Azwah’ owned by Salem bin Saeed al Maqbali won the 15th round. The 16th and concluding race was claimed by ‘Aseal,’ which is owned by Badr bin Abdullah al Darai.
In the afternoon competition, ‘Latha’ owned by Mohammad bin Salem al Wahaibi, snatched the car and trophy. ‘Al Fares’ owned by Abdulah bin Bakheet al Owasi and ‘Al Thabi’ owned by Yasser bin Al Sagheer al Maliki claimed the car and a dagger.
‘Al Thabi’ owned by Hamad bin Humid al Darai won the fourth car and a trophy. 'Al Nasr’ owned by Hamad bin Shuttayet al Wahibi grabbed the fifth car. ‘Arean’ owned by Humid bin Hamad al Omari, won the sixth car.
‘Shahean’ owned by Saeed bin Mubarak al Omari, was the champion of the seventh car. ‘Ealan’ owned by Mazen bin Saeed al Burtomani topped the eighth round to have a car. The last car in the category won by ‘Ghayth’ owned by Jassim bin Obaid al Wahaibi.
The second day of the race on Tuesday will be for the ‘Lagaya’ category, three-year-old, for 5-km divided into 10 races in the morning with cash prize for the top 10. In addition, there will be competitions for human riders, three races for 2 km. The winner will receive a SUV car and cash prizes for the top 10. Six main races will start in the afternoon, six cars for the winners and cash prizes up to 10th place.
On the other hand, RCC has opened a festival village, exhibitions and activities accompanying the camel festival. The village includes many heritage pillars and handicrafts for the productive families, entrepreneurs, and from Omani Women Association. Furthermore, the village includes the arts of Wanah, Tagrood, Tariq and Al Hambel, in addition to musical performances and camel skills and handball matches on the back of camels. Moreover, there are corners for bicycles, classic cars and visual performances about the participation of the RCC in various events within the Sultanate of Oman and GCC.
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