The 2020 Ooredoo Ride of Champions’ Corporate Challenge Provides a Friendly Match Between Qatar’s Fittest Firms

The Corporate Challenge at this year’s Ooredoo Ride of Champions provided the ultimate Employee Culture, Branding, and Health Team Building Event on Qatar’s calendar.

(Doha, Qatar – 16th December 2020) In a ride that saw record participation, the 2020 Ooredoo Ride of Champions was, by all measures, a massive success. A highlight within this record-breaking event was the annual Corporate Challenge. The event-with-the-event format enabled companies and organisations throughout Qatar to compete in many exciting categories, regardless of the company’s size.

Among the 1700+ event participants, more than 150 riders representing 17 companies and organizations registered for the 2020 Ride of Champions Corporate Challenge.

The Corporate Challenge provided a series of valuable prizes based on a number of fun and skill-based award categories. Among the awards was the Corporate Challenge Health Champion Award, presented to the company with the most members of staff and their families involved in the event at any distance, or rider category.

Another award was the Corporate Challenge Speed Champions Award, presented to the company with the fastest adult team. The results were calculated by determining the company with the fastest average speed for its 4 fastest riders on the open road – short (48km), medium (78km) and long (137.5km) events.

There were also awards in individual categories (a first for 2020). These included the CEO Challenge, which encouraged the leaders of private sector companies and organisations to participate and lead from the front of the group of riders. This award acknowledged the fastest CEO, Chairman, Owner or Chief Financial, Marketing or other Chief-level officer. The prize went to the fastest ‘CEO’ by average speed (among road events).

Another new award was the Fastest Corporate Rider (at each distance), a new challenge to recognise the fastest Corporate Challenge rider as an individual over each of the 3 road ride distances. The prize was awarded to the fastest Challenge participants by time (per distance).

Valuable prizes for the Corporate Challenge were awarded after the event at the companies’ office, including a trophy for the company, and recognition for the year in the Corporate Challenge offices.

Mannai Corporation, which was the official automotive sponsor of the Ooredoo Ride of Champions, through its GMC brand, bagged the most awards at the Corporate Challenge, with a trio of awards.

This year’s Corporate Challenge Health Champion Award went to Mannai Corporation, which won the trophy by bringing 46 participating riders. In second place was Sidra Hospital, with 24 riders. The third spot was taken by Aspetar with its 19 participants.

In the Corporate Challenge Speed Champions Award, Ooredoo won the Trophy with an average speed of 35.75 km/h! Mannai Corporation clocked in at 34.32 km/h to seize the second fastest speed, and Aspetar was close behind at 33.65 km/h to take third place.

Among the individual award categories, the CEO Challenge Award went to Ewan Cameron, Chief Financial Officer of Mannai Corporation, with the highest average speed among registered C-level executives at 39.0 km/h. He also was the Fastest Corporate Rider on the Short Route and completed the 48km ride with a time of 1:13:41. On the Standard Route of 78km, Emil Sepic of Aspetar placed first Corporate Rider and clocked 2:13:25. On the Long Route, Martin Jaros of Ooredoo, was the Fastest Corporate Rider and completed his 137km ride in 3:27:03.

The Corporate Challenge is considered a prime employer branding opportunity for organisations across Qatar that seek to increase their employee’s fitness, employee engagement, company culture, and intercompany competition. 2020’s edition of the Corporate Challenge proved successful in all regards, as a record number of companies participated in this year’s event.

Dr. Abdulaziz Al Kuwari, President of Qatar Cyclists Center, said “The Ride of Champions Corporate Challenge is an excellent platform for companies across Qatar, regardless of size, to activate employee engagement and community involvement. Promoting health and teamwork are critical as companies work towards their Qatar National Vision 2030. The Corporate Challenge promotes a happy and healthy workplace, and we believe events like these should be a staple in every successful company’s staff engagement plans for 2021. I would like to thank the many companies that contributed to the success of this year’s Corporate Challenge. This record-breaking involvement is an absolute sign that the Corporate Challenge is here to stay and will only grow larger and more inclusive.”

Ewan Cameron, Chief Financial Officer at Mannai Corporation, who won two Awards, had this to say about the 2020 Ride of Champions Corporate Challenge: “It was a privilege to represent Mannai Corporation in this year’s Corporate Challenge. 2020 has been a difficult year for all of us, so it was refreshing to get staff and their families together to represent our line of businesses and compete in the spirit of good fun and lasting memories. The Corporate Challenge is an excellent platform to get out and enjoy life with colleagues and their families. We look forward to joining again in future editions of the challenge.”

In addition to obvious fitness benefits, the Corporate Challenge has gained international recognition as a tool to develop and fortify the corporate culture of Qatar’s leading companies. Commenting on the positive effects of the Corporate Challenge on corporate culture was Michael Stellwag, co-founder of employee engagement consultancy, Working With Heart.  ”The Corporate Challenge provides an inclusive atmosphere for employees and their families to come together and work towards a common goal, all in the spirit of good-hearted fun and competition. We consider the Corporate Challenge to be an innovative and exciting avenue for Qatar’s companies to expand their employee engagement activities; the kind which sends positive ripples throughout the participating company’s employee base. It is our hope that more companies will consider events such as the Corporate Challenge as a key component of their corporate culture development activities.“

To learn more about the Ooredoo Ride of Champions, you may visit www.rocdoha.qa or follow @rocdoha on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.