Yesterday at the Al Rawda Camel Racetrack in Al Ain, the Arabian Saluki Championship race was held. The event featured six heats—three for males and three for females—over a 2000-meter distance, with 103 Saluki dogs participating. Their owners were from the United Arab Emirates, Oman, and Qatar. The races were part of the first edition of the Al Ain Heritage Festival, organized by the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture & Heritage at the Al Ain Exhibition Centre, which concludes today. The organizing committee distributed prizes totaling 318,000 dirhams to 30 winners, five in each heat. The first-place finisher in each heat receives 20,000 dirhams, the second 15,000, and the third 10,000. The race was organized as part of the Al Ain Heritage Festival, aiming to preserve cultural heritage and offer immersive experiences that reflect the diversity of Emirati traditions. The event also supports the festival's mission of connecting the past with the present, reinforcing national identity, and affirming the role of heritage events in transmitting folk knowledge in a contemporary style that maintains its authenticity and meets public expectations. The race aims to highlight one aspect of Emirati heritage linked to desert life and to recall the place of the Saluki in folk culture as a hunting companion and a symbol of skill and loyalty, reflecting the deep historical relationship between humans and their environment. By introducing younger generations to a traditional sport connected to their ancestors' lives, the event is presented in a lively, interactive format that enhances awareness of its cultural and social values and cements its place in the national memory.
