Sport of camel racing popular in Europe, Australia and Asia

When it comes to the world of racing, here in the United States we are accustomed to several different standard types of racing for sport. We as humans race and we race cars, greyhounds and horses—that is pretty much the extent of the sport of racing for us.

Well, in the Middle East and Asia, they race with an animal that is customary to their region. They have the sport of camel racing. The first thing that comes to mind when I think of camel racing would be vast desert lands and camels ridden by tunic and turban wearing men. A simple search on Google proved my suspicions to be correct.

Camel racing is a sport that is seen in Asian and Middle Eastern countries such as Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, India, Egypt, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, Jordan, Australia and Mongolia—pretty much in all of the countries where camels and desert space is abundant. The latter is significant because the camel is a large animal and it can run up to 25 mph. So, basically it is similar to a larger scale horse race.

In Saudi Arabia, camel racing is a significant commercial sporting event and Saudi Arabia is home to several of the larger scale camel racing competitions. These competitions include the Alice Springs Camel Cup, Boulia Camel Races and the Bedourie Camel Cup.

Winning a camel race is taken very seriously in Saudi Arabia. Winning and losing is for not just the title but is also for honor and rivalry. The winning camel's value increases by thousands of dollars upon winning of each race. The owner of the camel earns the sense of pride that goes along with owning this prize-winning camel.

The rules are simple and just like any other race (just the competitors are these enormous camels). The races are generally 3 to 10 kilometers in length.

The sight of these large, majestic creatures racing is an amazing sight to see. If you have the opportunity to visit the Middle East or Asia to see it, you will be amazed.

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