Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed acknowledges Filipino athlete in Dubai Fitness Challenge

Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the Crown Prince of Dubai, acknowledged a Filipino athlete for his completion of the 10-kilometer swimming marathon at the Dubai Fitness Challenge.

Paolo Mangilinan, a swimmer from Dubai, has successfully achieved a total of 300 kilometers the past 30 days, completing a 10-kilometer swim a day.

In his social media post, Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed congratulated Mangilinan, along with Ghani Souleyman, a Togolese national, who ran an ultramarathon of 45 kilometers per day for 30 days.

“Thank you to everyone who took part in Dubai Fitness Challenge, an initiative that works to transform Dubai into one of the world’s most active and dynamic cities. It motivated us all to set tougher personal goals and actually achieve them. Well done to the two stars of the Challenge:

1. Ghani Souleyman, a Togolese national, who ran an ultramarathon (45km) per day for 30 days.

2. Paolo Mangolinan, a Filipino national, who swam a marathon distance (10kms) per day for 30 days,” he said.

Mangilinan said that he was happy to be able to prove to himself his capability in terms of fitness, saying: “Incredible feeling. A dream-come-true, proving to myself that I can do it and anything is possible. This would not happen without your help guys. The amount of support I’m getting every single day was just fantastic! My last few meters swim today was full of emotion… never thought I would be able to finish 30 days, but I just kept believing. Dream big, keep working hard, you will have lots of failure and downs but never stop believing,” he said in his post on Facebook celebrating his feat.

Dubai Fitness Challenge, an initiative that aims to make the city into the most active place in the world. In this event, DFC challenged residents to undergo 30 minutes of continuous exercise per day for 30 days.