In the sweltering summer heat, a Malayali businessman in Dubai has scaled on foot 1,934 metres on the Jebel Jais mountain in Ras Al Khaimah, the highest peak in the UAE. Shafi told Khaleej Times on August 21 that he is dedicating his run to the nation’s frontline workers who have been battling COVID-19.

What is unique is that the 37-year-old ran barefoot non-stop for 21km. In the last 100 metres of the run, his children aged 10 and seven ran with him.  Shafi said that the total runtime was two hours and 50 minutes, and he had a support vehicle trailing behind throughout the run.

Shafi began running up to Jebel Jais at 4.30am and completed it at 7.20am before the roads got heated in the summer sun. His coach Dr Mohandas, a professional triathlon running coach, was also with him during the run.

He dedicated the run to frontline workers to thank them for the sacrifices they have made for the public.

Shafi, the owner of an IT firm, has been running since 2012. When he was working for another company earlier, they had organised a team to do a 3km fun run for the Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon. He said it gave him an incredible amount of positivity and energy and he decided to take up the activity.

After that, he has run the full Dubai Marathon, the Chennai Marathon in India and the Abu Dhabi Marathon. He was supposed to do the Berlin Marathon this year, but it got cancelled due to the pandemic.

Soon he began running barefoot. “Unlike running with shoes, the mind is very alert and aware when I am running barefoot. You need to keep a lookout for things on the street,” he said.

Shafi said he doesn’t find cushioning a problem as he lands on his toes first while running barefoot.

As part of his initiative, he wants to do to a barefoot run from Dubai to Abu Dhabi. Next year, he hopes to travel to Kazakhstan for the ‘Ironman Triathlon’.

Shafi told this correspondent that “an Ironman Triathlon is one of a series of long-distance triathlon races organised by the World Triathlon Corporation, consisting of a 2.4-mile swim, a 112-mile bicycle ride and a marathon 26.22-mile run, raced in that order. It is widely considered as one of the most difficult one-day sporting events in the world.”

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The embassy in its advisory said the new virus has caused 1,772 deaths within the first six months of its spread. In June alone, 628 people died of pneumonia including Chinese citizens.

According to the health authorities in Kazakhstan, the number of patients who are infected due to pneumonia is two-to-three times more than COVID-19.

Taking into consideration the entire scenario, the Chinese embassy has now asked people to take precautions and measures to protect themselves and to prevent the unknown virus from spreading into China. Meanwhile, the officials added that the COVID-19 situation in Kazakhstan is under control.

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