Muscat, Oct 2
The first race of 22nd edition of the annual camel races for the 2024-2025 season will begin on Friday and will continue for three days with 89 rounds to be held in Barka and Adam fields.
The event is supported by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Youth and organised by the Oman Camel Racing Federation (OCRF) in cooperation with Royal Camel Corps (RCC).
The OCRF’s Board of Directors recently announced 23 local events: 13 general races, three races sponsored by Shell Oman, three races sponsored by Occidental Oman, and four events featuring camel beauty contests, milking competitions and Ardah (traditional races).
The launching race will include 46 rounds that will be held at RCC field in Barka, concurrently, 43 rounds will take place at Al Bashayer race track in the Wilayat of Adam.
As many as 2,500 camels will compete in the first race to get the race prize, cash prize for the top 10 and chance to sell the winning camels to the GCC countries.
The first day, Friday, will witness 36 rounds divided equally between Barka and Adam, that are dedicated to ‘Hagayeg’ category, two years old over a distance of 3 km.
On the second day of competition's 27 rounds, 12 rounds will be held in Adam and 12 rounds in Barka for the ‘Laqaya’ category, three years old over a distance of 4 km. The Barka field will host three rounds for human rider's race for 2 km, which is a miniature image of the past race before using the robotic rider, as a kind of support for young people to preserve this historical sport.
The third day will witness 26 rounds divided equally between Barka and Adam, 12 rounds for ‘Al Ythaa’ category, four years old for 5 km, six rounds for ‘Al Thanaya' category, five years old over a distance of 6 km, eight rounds allocated for ‘Al Hawl’ category, above six years for 6 km.
The Oman Camel Racing Federation announced some participating conditions, which is limited to purebred camels owned by Omani only and strictly prohibited to stimulate with blood or use stimulating substances and electric shocks. The participants have to pre-register online to allow the federation to transfer the prize automatically to the owner's bank account. In all rounds, the top 10 winners will receive cash awards.
Shaikh Saeed bin Saud al Ghafili, OCRF Chairman, said: “Camel racing represents an Omani heritage that is passed down from generation to generation and enjoys great interest and support from all segments of society. Camel owners and trainers compete to participate and win various prizes, in addition to the economic benefits derived from buying and selling camels in Oman and globally.”
Hamad bin Ali al Saadi, Secretary-General of OCRF, stated that “the federation has made many developments in the racing system in the Sultanate of Oman, where electronic pre-registration has been implemented through the serial number of the electronic chip found in each participating camel, as well as the system of delivering prize money electronically to the participants’ accounts”.
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