DOHA: The Qatar Marine Sports Federation (QMSF) plays host to the 2014 Oryx Cup UIM World Championship, the final round of the H1 Unlimited series, at Doha Bay this weekend.
Established in the year 2009 by H E Sheikh Hassan bin Jabor Al Thani, President of the QMSF, and the then chairman of H1 Unlimited, Sam Cole, the race has become one of the most popular rounds of the US-dominated series and has attracted 10 of the world’s fastest on-water race craft, which will grace the waters of Doha Bay from Thursday.
The RORO ship arrived in Doha from the United States last Friday with all the equipment and race boats and the entire H1 caravan transfers to the Doha Corniche over the next two days. Staff at the QMSF are relishing the prospect of welcoming some of the most spectacular racing boats on the planet.
“We started H1 here in Qatar in 2009. It has been very successful for us in terms of hosting and in terms of teams representing Qatar,” said Sheikh Hassan. “Sam (Cole) did a wonderful job setting this up and getting all the boats from the US to come half way around the world to compete.”
Sam Cole stood down as head of H1 this season and his place at the head of the sport was taken by former racer and multiple National High Points champion Steve David – himself a favourite with the Doha crowds following his spectacular performances at the helm of Oh Boy/Oberto Miss Madison in recent seasons.Meanwhile, Sheikh Hassan thinks that a change from the sport’s traditional Lycoming turbine engines built for helicopter and military use could be a step forward. “For me, I think there is potential for new power systems, new engines. I’m sure if they convert to these new engines, then it would be possible to do more laps.”
The teams will be setting up their pit and hospitality areas today in Corniche before testing and qualifying takes place on tomorrow. THE PENINSULA
