Recently finished is the sixth Tour of Qatar, a bizarre cycle race around the hinterlands of Qatar. Bizarre in that in the race traverses a pancake flat desert, with almost no spectators, in a country with no history or precedent of cycling.
But that could be about to change. As reported on VeloMondial, Qatar's sovereign Emir Hamad bin Khalifa al Thani has approved a plan to create a 30km cooled cycle path in Doha. Using cold ground water, the track should enable Qataris to get on their bikes and discover the joys of pedalling.
Sport is seen in Qatar as a great driver for international recognition, generating tourism and inward investment. The Sports City project was recently completed and hosted the 2006 Asian games, but the Qatari's have a bigger prize in sight - the Olympics:
'Sheikh Saoud bin Abdul Rahman Al-Thani, secretary general of Qatar's National Olympic Committee, said: "Qatar is 100% committed to this cause. "I'm confident we will win 2016 but, if not, we will bid until we succeed."'
More on the astonishing transformation of Qatar to follow.
look forward to the Qatar piece... have been living here for a few years, would be interesting to get an outsiders perspective... it truely is a strange place
Posted by: JC | February 19, 2007 at 07:16 AM
it is amezing iwish ican travel in qatar really very beautifulcountry
Posted by: sandip jinadra | July 18, 2007 at 11:57 PM
when they will finsh it ?
Posted by: virus90 | March 26, 2008 at 06:21 PM
That airconditioned bike path looks pretty awesome. I wander if this is the first one in the world. Also, it'd be cool to have on here in Florida. Cheers, QB
Posted by: Qatar Boy | August 31, 2008 at 04:53 AM
I LOVE QATAR ^_^ AND I AM QATARI
Posted by: ALHAJRI | March 04, 2009 at 09:27 AM
love qatar lookin for qatari girls,raja.mansoor@live.co.uk
Posted by: mansoor | August 09, 2009 at 11:28 PM
Qatar's awesome :)
http://www.iloveqatar.net <--- this is a great site for information on Qatar.
Posted by: Kei | September 22, 2009 at 10:17 PM