After Two Weeks, Bin Thaneya Finishes Trek Across All Seven Emirates

After a punishing two weeks and around 850 kilometres later, Jalal Bin Thaneya has finished his trek across all seven emirates on foot.

At 8:28pm on Monday evening, the visibly exhausted 30-year-old Emirati reached the end point of his journey Fujairah corniche.

“I am tired now. It’s overwhelming, a little bit,” Thaneya told Gulf News just minutes after completing the trip.

“It’s an emotional thing for me, because I went from one point of my country to another – literally.”

At the time, he was still calculating his precise distance travelled – vital data he needs to send to officials at the Guinness World Records.

If is trip is deemed valid, he will snag a record for making the ‘fastest crossing of the UAE on foot’.

Later on, Bin Thaneya and his motorized three-man support team will drive back to Dubai, his hometown.

The 30-year-old Emirati started out on foot at exactly 3:51am on December 20, on a chilly night at the windswept Al Ghuwaifat border post the far-east fringe of Abu Dhabi emirate.

Tough target

Starting out, the goal – and official record deadline - was to cross the UAE in just seven days.

However, the trip, made to raise awareness for people with special needs, has turned out to be far harder than expected.

Scarce food, scorching heat, and dusty unpaved paths through much of the country have resulted in a lot of delays.

To add to that, the 712 kilometre-journey calculated by the Guinness World Records is only possible on paper, Bin Thaneya has claimed. 

The actual distance needed to cross the UAE, as his support team have found out, is far closer to 900 kilometres.

Delayed but not out

But despite taking twice the time calculated, Bin Thaneya’s record attempt has not yet been disqualified. 

Officials have told him to submit his completed journey log for their own verification.

Throughout the journey, the record hopeful’s three man support team have shadowed him with two cars, and more recently, a luxurious Ford motorhome.

The motorhome, where Bin Thaneya takes his showers and daily five-to-six hour sleep, was provided later in the trip by one of his sponsors.

Due to dark, rough roads and the sometimes glacial pace of the trip, both support cars have had to be replaced.

All through the trip, the glaring sun stood out as the main enemy in an oven-temperature odyssey.

Earlier, Bin Thaneya neared the journey’s end at Fujairah’s cool coastal waters, a support team member seemed to shudder.

“There are no clouds here even,” said Yahya, who is also a longtime friend of Bin Thaneya. “It’s the same sun, not leaving us from Ghuwaifat to the other side of the earth, it is the same.”

source : gulfnews