President His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan received the UAE’s ’62 Swim Team’ who completed a 62km swim in Abu Dhabi Island.
During the meeting at Qasr Al Bahr, President His Highness Sheikh Mohammed spoke cordially with the team and urged them to continue participating in awareness initiatives that help educate the community and strengthen its role in protecting the marine environment.
A number of swimming initiatives involving government and private organizations aim to raise community awareness of the marine environment and the importance of water safety. A number of swimmers, namely Mansour Al Dhaheri, Vania Neves and Arjuna Don, managed to swim 62 kilometers around Abu Dhabi, which took 34 hours.
In addition to protecting the environment and achieving sustainable development goals, the initiative also aims to introduce the importance of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP28), which the UAE will host later this year.
The initiative team underwent a year of intensive training during which they swam a total of 900 kilometers.
On the other hand, within the framework of this initiative, an event was organized by the Abu Dhabi Department of Culture and Tourism, which set a Guinness World Record for the largest number of people attending water safety courses in one place.
A number of entities including the Abu Dhabi Department of Education and Knowledge, Abu Dhabi Maritime Authority, Make-A-Wish Foundation and Storm Swim Academy participated in the “largest water safety course ever”, highlighting the dangers of swimming in open water and raising awareness of Awareness of relevant security measures.
336 students from Abu Dhabi universities and schools also participated in the class, including some determined ones.