Dubai, United Arab Emirates – 24 October 2018: The much-awaited Dubai Fitness Challenge gets off to a roaring start this weekend with an incredible two days of fun activities, team and individual sports, stage acts and a host of events to keep all of Dubai fully energised and entertained. The Dubai Festival City Opening Weekend Carnival, presented by DEWA in association with Dubai Festival City marks the start of the 30-day city-wide fitness movement targeting one million participants over the 4 weeks to commit to embracing a healthier and more active lifestyle. Be part of the challenge and join all of Dubai’s society across all ages, fitness skills and physical abilities as they get fired up on their #Dubai30X30 journey from 15:00 to 23:00 on Friday 26 October and 13:00 to 20:00 on Saturday 27 October.

 

The 2018 signature Opening Weekend Carnival will embrace the spirit of this festival – an initiative His Highness, Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of Dubai Executive Council, aimed at enabling a positive social change for all – welcoming participants to experience over 30 sports sessions, more than 80 group classes and an action-packed calendar of acts on stage throughout the two days. 

 

Highlights on the Main Stage at the Dubai Festival City Opening Weekend Carnival include: 

Other fitness related activities include an instructor led mass spinning area with 60 bikes for participants to try and top their personal best; twenty-four different sessions at the 6P Techno Gym Dome which features skill bikes, ply boxes and kettlebells as well as 24 classes at the Fitness in DXB Hub with its boxing bags, battle ropes and slam balls. The dedicated TechnoGym area will offer SkillRow Interactive Bikes with master trainers complimented by the Les Mills Interactive Cycle Zone.  

 

A huge range of sports will be on offer including sharpening football skills on the two football pitches complete with DJs spinning the tunes, lighting effects and projection mapping, the FIFA World Cup Championship Experience and AFC Interaction Roadshow with a Cross Bar Challenge, Dragon Boat racing for 1,500 participants per day, over 100 Kayaks to try on the Creek, Climbing Treadwall and Mixed Martial Arts sessions including boxing, muay tai, jiu jitsu, karate and judo.  

 

The Opening Weekend Carnival is ideal for a family day out with activities for all to try - from the young in age to the young at heart, including yoga, Zumba, children’s obstacle course, climbing cone, holistic zone complete with nutrition, medical and physiotherapy consultations, bull rodeo, wipe out, trampolining area, snookball and a special youngsters play area. The immensely popular Les Mills Born to Move classes will be back to inspire kids get more active and create an interest in physical activity amongst the youth. 

 

Another of the weekend highlights will be the free YogaFest Dome hosted by YogaFest Dubai that is expected to be a crowd-puller due to its high demand aross ages and genders. Taking place on the Dubai Festival City helipad surrounded on all sides by water, Yogis can participate in 14 free master classes on Friday 26 October and Saturday 27 October 2018.  

 

This year will also see a strong focus on holistic wellbeing with 28 classes taking place on Friday and Saturday on transcendental meditation, nutrition tips, Sol Pilates, positivity, self-motivation and homeopathy.  Professional physiotherapists and masseurs will be at hand to aid recovery courtesy of Anatomy Rehab, and Mediclinic will also provide free health and fitness assessments for participants to assess where they are now and where they want to be. To ensure that the weekend is indeed the perfect social retreat for the family, the carnival will be full of entertainment and recreation options, healthy F&B varieties catering to all palettes at the Chill Out Zone, a 2.2km fitness trail to the beach.

 

All carnival attendees will be treated to a grand, entertaining multimedia show and spectacular fireworks display over the water on Friday 26 October at 22:50 to announce the official start of Dubai Fitness Challenge 2018. These multitude of highlights of the Opening Weekend Carnival provide the perfect opportunity for people from across all communities to come together and share great instagrammable moments of their life in Dubai, while also celebrating fitness and quality family time. 

 

The time to pledge participation in DFC 2018 is now! Everyone from young adults, families of all ages, people of determination, residents and visitors, to government agencies, businesses, fitness professionals and academic institutions are encouraged to take the challenge. The Dubai Fitness App is available for participants to officially sign-up in the Apple and Google Play app stores and offers several new features for quick and easy tracking of progress, discovering fitness events, classes and activities, as well as encouraging friends and family by social sharing functionality. 

 

Running from 26 October to 24 November 2018, returning for its second consecutive year, the Dubai Fitness Challenge is the world’s only multi-activity, month-long, city-wide fitness movement. This year, Dubai will continue its mission to be the most active city in the world, with a goal of over one million participants taking part in the initiative and an even more action-packed, entertaining and personally rewarding calendar as it seeks to engage all ages, abilities and fitness levels, across every community in Dubai.