Jamie Cunningham, founder of the Professional Sports Group, announced the launch of the Abu Dhabi Swimming Festival in Corniche Bay in the Arabian Gulf. The Festival will include three races: the 1.6K Waha Capital Abu Dhabi Mile where the winners of the male and female races will each receive 5,000 Dirham (US$1,361), the 700-meter Etihad Holidays Splash Dash where the winning male and female receive two Business Class tickets to any Etihad Airways destination in Europe, and the children’s 200-meter Etihad Holidays Splash Dash.

Besides the cash and business-class tickets to Europe, a family holiday to Thailand courtesy of Etihad Holidays will be will randomly award at the October 16th event.

“We want to create a unique swimming event here in Abu Dhabi that will eventually rival the Midmar Mile in South Africa,” said Jamie Cunningham in a bold but visionary statement about growing like the world’s largest competitive open water swim did over the last 20 years. “With a great series of family swimming challenges and the Waha Capital Abu Dhabi Mile, we are confident that the Festival can become one of the great mass participation events on the UAE sports calendar. We also hope that it will eventually attract overseas visitors to swim Abu Dhabi’s iconic stretch of water along the Corniche.”

Gracious hosts, great prizes, grand vision, iconic venue in the United Arab Emirates…are all ingredients for another wonderful swim on the world’s open water calendar.

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