Women’s camel racing: training for a race in the desert

[Action Music] Piece of cake. That was graceful Buckle up. We're in for a bumpy ride [Theme Music] Hello and welcome to another adventure. Today we're getting stuck into some Khaleeji culture and what better way than to learn about the art of camel racing. I've always found it fascinating the love and passion that Emiratis share for camels and the sport but as an outsider I always found it quite difficult to get involved. My mission is to learn camel racing and to be able to enter a race and luckily for me, I found a racing team that are willing to teach me right here in Marmoon in Dubai [Funky Music] The word on the street is that there's a ladies camel racing team that's causing a big stir So I've come here to the Arabian Desert Camel

Riding Centre to see what it's all about [Arabic Music] How long has camel racing been a tradition in the UAE? In the UAE maybe one hundred years now Hundred years? Yeah I am Obaid Juma Al Falasi from Dubai. I worked in the camel maybe 13 years now. I have maybe 15 camels. All for racing So how much would a camel like this cost? This one maybe AED 100,000 Because it's two times winner Two races? You're very proud of the winners and how they're succeeding yeah I'm gonna have to save up for a long time to ride a camel of my own. It's big business Has he got suspension? He does. So you know, there's a bit of a saying between the Arabs. They would say This is a Land Rover, he's a good camel because

he's so smooth Right So Hero is a Land Rover camel Land Rover Camel? Alright. He was a racing camel previously, but now he's retired from his active racing career but he has been really obedient, or well trained. So he stays around to train the other camels Plus also, if he's a very comfortable camel, that's a really important factor when you have a riding camel obviously Once we are out there, we learn the walking and the trotting, because we want to get ready for the race right? So we have to pick up some speed Hi I'm Linda Kockenberger. I'm the head of the female racing team here in Dubai and I'm training the students at ADCRC On a horse you're usually taught exactly to hold on tight, versus on the camel we really have to absorb

that movement and let go of it. So instead of holding on we'll be teaching you how to actually shuffle your legs, maybe flop your arms and all sorts of things So you're kind of floppy noodle yeah exactly I started camel riding myself about two, two and a half years ago and I realized how hard it is to find access to the sport but at the same time how rewarding it is to work with that type of animal and especially being here in the Middle East, it seemed to be the logical thing to explore camel riding and because of the lack of access I felt really driven to open my own place to bring that facility to other people here in the country, and especially women because at the moment it's a very male dominated sport

and we needed some place to train. So we had to open one This is hero? Yes We have a camel here called Hero and we say he's the alpha, you know he's a he's a big boss and he likes to be the leader and he likes to make sure that he gets all the attention and gets all the photographs taken of him My name is Katie Higgins and I'm from Ireland and I am recently a new student here at the Arabian Desert Camel Riding Centre and I've been doing it for a couple of months now and. It's getting a bit rowdy here they're getting too excited for the camera So this is the camel that I'm going to be racing today. This is Hero. Hero are we going to do this? Are you going to

be nice to me? and help me around the track? So when you race camels, do you race the males or the females or both? No different. Male different. Female different Different categories? yeah Okay At the moment there is no category for women to make it a female only category. You first need enough females to open a category. So it's a bit of a chicken and egg situation. At the moment we have four to five girls ready to race. We want to get to 10 to 12 and then we'll be able to host our first official race hopefully by next season I love the passion these girls have for the sport and their determination to enter races but can they teach a clumsy fool like me how to stay on a camel? That's the big question

We need to start with what goes around his belly first, because once he's sitting we won't be able to tighten it right? So the hump is in the middle, that's on the lower back of the camel, and this is on the front So this is where I'm gonna sit? Yeah exactly How do we get him to sit down? Okay for the camel to sit you tug his chain around the nose and you say Ahkk Does it mean anything? It's his command to sit. I don't know. Right so I just pull him down and go Ahk Ahk Ahk. And then we roll it tightly and do the lift at the back. So it keeps you from falling exactly So how old is Hero here? Hero is 10 and he's now retired He's retired? How fast can

people get up to on race camels? Top speed is between 40 and 45. 45 kilometers per hour? yes Wow! on the back of one of these. Ten foot high in the air And what might we go to today do you think? Think we might get to 20? Yeah 20s will be a very fast trot and a comfortable trot is around 10 kilometers to 15. 20 it feels like exercising so we'll try to touch on 20 just to get you into the movement and because this is what you need eventually for the race okay all right I mean they're much much taller than horses as well so that was something to get used to and naturally when you climb up on a horse you wrap your legs around, but here with the camel they sit down

for you first and then you climb over so you have to get used to that position off getting up from the ground So when you're sitting on the ground you're like "oh this is okay" you know this is fine and then you know they just get super big Piece of cake. That was graceful This was starting to look like one of the craziest things I had ever done. Holding onto a camel by my knees as it starts to take off for 40 kilometers an hour. What had i got myself into? [Action music] We want to make camel riding obviously accessible to more people and that's why we have the facility. We opened the school, we host the trainings, we host them in a way where you don't need any addition skills beforehand, you just come

and ride and we guide you through by attaching you first to another camel and then slowly you gain confidence until you're ready to go race So Guy in Dubai is racing with us later and we won't single anybody out. He has a very high chance of winning Okay buddy look, this is serious. The stakes are high. We've got this alright. We've got this okay. The girls are looking pretty confident but us boys, we never lose alright? You know it. You know it. Okay, see you out there We will see how he gets on. As long as he connects well with his camel, keeps his position, keeps his balance Who knows? He might beat the rest of us Well I got what I wanted. A camel race. Be careful what you wish for, that would be

an appropriate phrase So I challenged the girls to a race. 500 meter sprint race. Now they're getting quite competitive about it and they look like they know what they're doing. I'm competitive about it but I've got no idea what I'm doing. I'm going to have to hold on for dear life and I don't even guarantee that I'm going to get to the end but you know what I'm going to take the risk. I'm going to give it a go so let's see what happens Well the moment of truth was upon me and there was no looking back and all I could think was hold on for dear life [Arabic drumming music] So I was off to a good start but then the girls overtook me and as they got further and further away, and smaller

and smaller, and even smaller I was left in their dust, still hanging onto a camel by my knees, hanging on for dear life Come On [Arabic Music] Congratulations That was good. You were fast. It was quite scary but I think you just have to go 100% or you don't Thank you so much. That was incredible really Well I may have lost the race and my backside is going to need at least a week to recover, but I've learned about a piece of local culture that I can now truly love and appreciate [Theme Music]