270,000 Steps Notched Up In ICLDC’s Community Walk Around Zayed Sports City

The sixth annual Play for Life tournament kicked-off in Zayed Sports City with a one kilometre walk to support Start Walking. an initiative from ‘Diabetes-Knowledge-Action’, the public health awareness campaign from Imperial College London Diabetes Centre (ICLDC) under the patronage of Her Highness Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak.

The Walk – which added more than 270,000 steps to the Start Walking. tally - was led by His Highness Sheikh Saif bin Saeed bin Saif Al Nahyan, His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Saeed bin Saif Al Nahyan, and executives from the event organiser, ICLDC, as well as Dr Marc Harrison representing the Gold Sponsor, Cleveland Clinic.

They were joined by an number of the UAE’s legacy players, including Faisal Al Hammadi, Talal Al Joondy, Yousef Al Hammadi, Salem Al Zaabi, Mohammad Al Zaabi, Sultan Al Musaabi, Abdullah Aaref and Mohammad Al Hammadi.

The former professional footballers, participants of the Sports Care Programme affiliated to Abu Dhabi Sports Council, walked ahead of more than 200 players representing the 12 teams vying for this year’s Play for Life Champions Cup – Football 2013.

Start Walking., a grass roots initiative to encourage the community to start walking more, was launched earlier this year and is set to run a collection of mini-walks leading up to the annual walkathon, Walk 2013 at Yas Marina Circuit on November 15, the day after World Diabetes Day.