With Dubai enjoying glorious winter weather, there are a host of open-air social, sporting and cultural event to enjoy. Here are a few that are being held over the next two weekends – be sure to make a note in your diary and enjoy some world-class entertainment!
STANDARD CHARTERED DUBAI MARATHON
Friday 26 January 2018
This year’s Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon (and the supporting 10k race and 4k fun run) will start and finish on Umm Suqeim Road – where up to 40,000 athletes and spectators will have a clear view of our 30 lamppost signs as they start and finish their respective events. Extensive media coverage of the event will add a worldwide audience to the clients on these popular signs!
Held under the patronage of HH Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, and staged under the aegis of the Dubai Sports Council, it is the first world-class marathon of the year – and with a reputation for providing a flat and fast course combined with benign weather conditions, Dubai is a favourite event for the great and the good of long distance running. Defending men’s and women’s champions Tamirat Tola and Worknesh Degefa will lead a world-class field of distance runners when the 2018 Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon gets underway at 6am on Friday January 26.
QUOZ ARTS FESTIVAL
Friday 26 – Saturday 27 January 2018
Returning for the 6th year, the two-day event, which takes place in Alserkal Avenue in the heart of Al Quoz, aims to celebrate the area’s galleries and creative spaces. There’ll be entertainment and activities for the whole family, with performances and workshops taking place throughout Alserkal Avenue, as well as tours of the area’s art galleries. Buskers, dancers and DJs will be performing all over, and there’ll be a dance programme curated by Sima Dance Company, with chances for audiences to get involved, too. There’ll also be a market, selling products made by local business and creative, as well as a selection of some of Dubai’s best home-grown food trucks. Consult the full programme for more information.
WASLA FESTIVAL
Friday 2 February 2018
Wasla, the alternative Arabic music festival, returns to Dubai for its second edition. Last year’s inaugural event saw 14 acts from across the Middle East performing to more than 4000 people. In 2018, Wasla is set to be bigger than ever, featuring a brand-new line-up playing a wide variety of genres, including rock, folk, jazz, electronica, and more. Some of the acts on the line-up this year are indie band Hayajan (with Alaa Wardi), Egyptian rock group Cairokee, Lebanese singer-songwriter Tanya Saleh, progressive fusion folk band Majaz, Jordanian indie group Autostrad, whose music is influenced by rock, reggae, and funk, Algerian gnawa group Gnawa Diffusion, and alternative supergroup Lekhfa (Maryam Saleh, Tamer Abu Ghazaleh, and Maurice Louca).
For more details on the event, go to http://alserkalavenue.ae/en/event/quoz-arts-fest-2018.php
