Flip through the latest issue of Gulf Weekly.
NINETY-FOUR Gaelic teams will be hopingthey have the luck of the Irish this weekend as a series of sporting andentertainment events take place to celebrate the Bahrain Irish Festival 2016.
A joint venture between the Bahrain IrishSociety and the Arabian Celts, the celebration features two days of fiercesporting competition, including hurling and Gaelic football tournaments.
The annual Bahrain games will be the thirdof five rounds of the Middle East League, although each individual meet istreated as a tournament in its own right.
From 4pm tomorrow, the children’s Gaelicfootball competition will kick-off at the Bahrain Rugby Football Club inJanabiya, followed by the men’s hurling championship from 6.30pm.
The main event is on Friday, with theaction kicking off as the men’s and women’s Gaelic football teams tussle from8am at the rugby club, the National Stadium, Soccer City and the FootballAcademy, with the final taking place at the rugby club in the evening.
Afterwards, there will be a night ofentertainment featuring live music from popular Irish band The Harleys who havebeen flown in especially from their home country, and popular Middle East-basedentertainer Paddyman.
Tom Hanratty, the coach of the Arabian Celtsladies team, believes this will be the finest edition of the celebration todate. He said: “The Irish festival is always one of the best events of theyear, but this time it will be even more so as it’s the first occasion wherewe’ve had ladies teams competing.
“My team have been training really hard,and what’s brilliant is that half of the squad had never seen or played thegame until September when they joined up. It shows that the game is fun andeasy to pick up for anyone who wants to give it a try. Hopefully, people willbe inspired by what they see this weekend and join up!”
The chairman of the Arabian Celts, PatKennedy, is particularly excited about the huge growth of Gaelic sports in theregion recent years. Around 160 children will take part in their tournamenttomorrow, whilst the total number of teams entered is at an all-time high.
In total, more than 1,000 players areexpected in Bahrain, not to mention their partners, friends and family who willbe coming along to offer their vociferous support.
He explained: “There’s an impressive numberof new people, both Irish and non-Irish, playing at all skill levels of thegame. The Arabian Celts’ motto is ‘inclusive, not exclusive’, which basicallymeans exactly that. No matter how good you may or may not be, your gender oryour age, you are welcome to join and try the sport out. You don’t even have tobe Irish! It’s open to everyone.
“Thiswouldn’t be possible without all of the volunteers who have given their time togrowing the sport. In particular, I’d like to thank coaches Anthony Friel, TomHanratty, James Kennedy, David Lloyd, Stewart Hunt and Alana McConalogue, plusour loyal sponsors who have supported the Celts for years.”
The bikes classes include the Street Bike 9.50, Street Bike, Super Street Bike and Pro Bike.
Fahad Taqi BDRC president said: “We are greatly looking forward to this new campaign. We have a lot of international names taking part this year to go along with some of the Gulf’s best drag racers, along with some new cars, so the level of drag racing is going to be very high.
That will be very exciting, as will the addition of the two new categories, which we believe will attract a lot of participants.” Tonight’s Test and Tune runs from 5pm to 11pm.
Qualifying follows tomorrow and Race Day is on Friday.
Action also begins at 5pm on the final two days. Some of the championship’s participating teams started their preparations with some private testing at BIC. They included Bahrain’s very own E K Kanoo Racing Team and Kuwait’s Q80 Racing Team.
All are welcome to attend the season-opening round. Tickets can be purchased at the gate. Tickets to the Test and Tune cost BD2 apiece for each night. For Qualifying and Race Day, tickets are BD5 for both days at the Start Line Grandstand, while tickets are BD3 for both days at the Batelco Grandstand. Children aged up to 12 years old can attend for half the price.
The 2016/2017 season is set to feature five rounds, to be held until March of next year. Round two is set from December 20 to 23. Round three will be the first of the new calendar year, set from January 3 to 6.
The fourth round follows from February 21 to 23, and then the season finale will take place from February 28 to March 3.
For more information on the Bahrain Drag Racing Championship, visit the circuit’s official website on www.bahraingp.com or call the BIC Hotline on 17450000.
