Doha: The preliminary races of Mafareed Summer Festival 2024 kicked off on Saturday at Al Shahaniya racecourse.

Organized by the Camel Racing Committee, the event will run until September 7 with the participation of over 440 camels. The first day races were powerful and awe-inspiring which saw preliminary race of 16 heats distributed to two categories to race over a distance of 1,500 meters, with a large participation of camel owners from the State of Qatar and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states.

In the first category, “Tomooh” owned by Hamad Salem Al Marri won the title of the first Mafareed heats after breaking the record in a superb time 2:09:22 minutes, wile “AlJazeera”, the runner-up, owned by Nasser Ahmed Mohammed Al Muhannadi finished the race in 2.09.98 minutes, and “Maali” owned by Muhammad Faraj Al Ghafrani came in the third-place timing 2.10.90 minutes.

In the second cateory, “Al Waei”, owned by Mohsen Hizam Al Marri came first timing 2:10.68 minutes, while “Wahaq” owned by Ali Abdullah A
l Marri finished second with a 2:11.06 time and “Mubher” owned by Nawaf Hadi Al Marri finished in the third-place timing 2:11.92.

The festival features 6 preliminary races and a final race, which will be held during Sept. 6 and 7, with each preliminary race comprising 12 heats of 1,500 meters, in addition to 4 additional heats for companies participating in the festival.

Source: Qatar News Agency