Umm Al Quwain: Participants, veterans, first-timers and marshals alike, have given a big thumbs up to the organisers of last weekend’s 34th Gulf News Overnighter Fun Drive.
“Like always it was fun and kudos to the people behind it. What set it apart though this time was the scenic beauty along the way. I think everyone who did the entire drive enjoyed the route and I could tell that because I did not really have to get seriously involved in a single rescue act. No one was in a real rush to finish,” says Pakistani Asifa Balouch, 29, one of the only three women out of a line-up of 80 marshals at this year’s 219km Gulf News Fun Drive - the longest ever.
Lots of adventure
Like Asifa, another fifth timer at the Fun Drive this time was Jordanian Talal Abdul Hamid, 14 who says it was an experience like never before. “What I liked about the drive this year was that it had lots of adventure, especially sections 1 and 4 which had lots of dunes. It was not really that easy negotiating them and there was so much to learn afresh,” says the Sharjah resident. “It all got better after we reached the camp tired. Not only was there an amazing dinner on offer but some really interesting first-time activities like rock climbing and bungee run. The singers at night were the icing on the cake. Surely this has to be the best Fun Drive I have been to,” added the ninth grader at the International School of Choueifat in Sharjah.
For Emirati freelance video-grapher and student Mohammad Al Sarjawee, 29, the Fun Drive – in its 29th year – produced photo opportunities of a lifetime. “I look for a new place and theme to go shooting every week and this week it was like a culmination of so many of them. There were some amazing sceneries and landscapes, there were people and of course the flora and fauna of the desert. I just couldn’t have hoped for a better experience,” said the Masters student at a Sharjah university who is also a TV presenter at a local station.
After a sumptuous breakfast, families in around 850 4WD vehicles undertook the roughly eight-hour trip that was flagged off at 7:30am January 9 from the Emirates Motorplex in Umm Al Quwain (UAQ). Passing through some of the most challenging terrain including the spectacular Wadi Maleha and some stunning dunes in the desert of Ajman and UAQ, the trip concluded at the massive desert camp in UAQ replete with all basic amenities including lighting and washrooms for the 2,500 people that completed the gruelling drive.
“It was absolutely well managed. Everything was to the tee. My kids enjoyed the atmosphere at the camp, especially the bonfire, so much that my six-year-old daughter’s already asking when’s the next Fun Drive?,” said Canadian Marina Maclean, 36, a Dubai-based realtor. Her husband Kevin has been at the Fun Drive for over 20 years but next time it will be her, she insists, behind the wheel.
34 and still counting...
Gulf News has been organising Fun Drives since 1986 and this is the 29th year in progress. So far, there have been seven Day Drives, 22 Overnighters, one Abu Dhabi Day Drive and three Friday Fun Drives, thus making 33, with this event being 34th.
The main sponsor of the Fun Drive is Al-Futtaim Motors – Toyota, while the checkpoints are sponsored by Amity University Dubai, Dubai Duty Free, Orient Travel, Pringles, Rexona, RSA, Total and Toyo Tires.Fun Drive Numbers are by 3m Protected, while the Support Sponsors include Alco, Al Ain Water, Byrne, Cha Cha Chai, Emirates Flight Catering, Jebel Ali Golf Resort, IATC, and WOW – Emirates Wet Wipes.
The Fun Drive is being held with the support of Emirates Motorplex UAQ and the UAQ Municipality. Every care was taken to make sure there was no damage done to the desert.
