Caitlin Dillon and Anam Arsalan
Doha, Qatar- Qatar Olympic Committee, in association with Msheireb Properties – A subsidiary of Qatar Foundation, hosted the cycle relay event at the Msheireb Downtown Doha. The cycle relay, part of the Qatar Flag Relay, witnessed many cycling enthusiasts converge at the Al Kahraba Street in a bid to etch their names in the Guinness Book of Records.
The task was to surpass China’s record of ‘maximum number of participants in a bicycle relay race’, 307 cyclists set in 2016. Even though Qatar failed to make the mark with the baton being dropped by the 236th participant, it managed to inculcate a feeling of national pride and community among both locals and expats alike. That’s why despite failing to reach the mark, the cyclists stayed positive. Many expressed hope that in future, the record would be surpassed.
As Sheikha Asma al-Thani, director of marketing and communications, Qatar Olympic Committee, puts it: “The idea of having the world record event in Doha is very important to us, it’s an opportunity to get people from the community to try this sport. Also, it is an opportunity to have people from the community, Qatar’s athletes, to work together as a team to break to world record for us.”
“It’s very important for Qatar Olympic Committee to build a strong sporting community at these types of events, getting the community to exercise and take part in sporting events not only for the country, but for themselves as well.”
Speaking about building a brand around Team Qatar, Sheikha Asma said: “These types of events get the community to try things that they’ve never tried before. And it also gets them to work together as a team, because as we changed our brand to Team Qatar, we believe that teamwork is very important in building a community.”
Adding weight to the brand of Team Qatar, Maryam Al Jassim, PR Manager, Msheireb Properties, said: “This is the first time Msheireb are participating in this, and we are so excited to be participating in this event. All of the employees are waiting for the Qatari flag to come, and we’ll be so excited also if we can hit the Guinness World Record today at Msheireb.”
Not to forget that the cycle relay was not just an event for the athletes or professionals, it was an event for the workers as well. “Our workers are participating, and some of our employees are participating on the cycling route and also on the walking route. We are going to take the flag and our people are going to take the flag for the other side so that we can complete the route of Qatar for today,” said Maryam.
Seby Staley DaSilva, an expatriate from India, who was a professional cyclist before an injury forced him to take a break, echoed Maryam’s opinion. “Anyone can participate here, anyone who can ride… you can see the workers are too registering their names.”
On how he came to know about the novel event DaSilva said: “I go to the Losail Circuit Track [for training]. I got some information there, and then I got some information on Facebook.”
Sheikha Asma, who has been an ultra-athlete, with her becoming the first Qatari to successfully ski to the North Pole, hit the nail on the head when she said that such events are “very exciting”.
“It’s very fun, I love challenges, challenges usually are what get me to do the things that I love to do, I like it when something is very difficult and I achieve it, and this event is quite difficult, and I hope that these athletes do achieve it too,” she added about the cycle relay race.
Earlier, Guinness Book of Records official representative and adjudicator Seyda Subasi Gemici, from United Kingdom, provided information with regards to the rules and regulations for cycle relay race.
“Today I am here in Doha, Qatar to witness the official Guinness World Record attempt for the most people in a bicycle relay. And, in order to qualify for this record attempt, the international guidelines of the Guinness World Records have to be followed,” said Seyda, before getting on with the details.
“The guidelines are as follows: first, commercially available bikes have to be used for the record attempt. The course needs to be 100 metres, we are going to measure it later on with a technical official, and each relay has to have the distance of 100 metres; each cyclist has to cycle a minimum of 100 metres. After he reaches the 100m he has to exchange a baton with the next cyclist.
“Then the second cyclist cycles another 100 metres, then he passes the baton to the next cyclist, and so on. If a delay of 30 seconds occurs between the change-over of the baton, then the attempt is invalid. Or, if the baton is dropped, the attempt will end at the point where the baton is dropped. The current record is belonging to China, with 307 participants. So, these are the guidelines for the record, in order to qualify. There will have to be at least 308 participants in order to break the world record.”