issue two: may 2009 - Halcrow

Run for it ...It’s Friday the 13 thOver 550 people threw caution to the wind on Friday13 February 2009 to take part in Dubai’s 17 th Wadi Bih relay race.Among them were two teams from Halcrow. The run hasbeen held every year since 1993 and is one of longestrunning (literally) sporting and social events in theexpatriate calendar.Sporting successField of dreamsTeam Halcrow sprint tothe finishing lineSami Al QazzazSome 108 teams took part in the gruelling75km dash alongside a smattering of solorunners and cyclists – a record turnout forthe event.The course was split into 2-4km legs with teammembers running each in turn. Participantspounded along the picturesque wadi bed,running as high as 1,000m above sea levelbefore ending where they started at the GoldenTulip Hotel in Dibba.Despite a strong shamal – a northwesterly windwhich blows over the Arabian Gulf states – theday before, the weather was pleasantly cooland allowed runners to enjoy the landscape andmountain air.All the Halcrow runners and their supportteam camped on the beach the nightbefore with some opting for another night underthe stars after the event. With a 6:30am start, allHalcrow’s athletes had finished by around 2pm andmerrily tucked into a well-deserved buffet lunch back atthe hotel.Team Halcrow 1 – consisting of Sami Al Qazzaz, JasveenSidhu, Arun Kaushal, Guillaume Tamagnan and guestrunner Russel Bowen (general manager of Corus in theMiddle East) finished in 7 hours 05 minutes.James Milner, David Fox, Ashraf Alkhadrawy, andguest runners Ali Bushnaq (Wadi Rum Decor) and PaulDunnage (Wozair Middle East) came in 18 minutes later.... in the West MidlandsTransferring industry rivalries onto astroturf, the annualInstitution of Civil Engineers’ West Midlands five-a-sidefootball tournament took place in Birmingham on 7 March.Trading bid documents for bone-crunching tackles, ateam from Halcrow’s Birmingham office took on otherconsultants and contractors for the title.Split into two groups with the top four progressing to thequarter finals, the initial round-robin stage saw Halcrowgoing head-to-head with Birse Rail, Arup, Morgan PS andtwo teams from Mouchel. Striding through to the quarters in a wellearnedthird spot, the team’s slick passing and movement dispatchedAtkins Rail in style, 2-0.With four teams remaining, Morgan PS stood in the way of a place inthe final. In a reversal of their meeting in the group stage, Halcrowtriumphed 1-0 courtesy of an early goal and solid defending.Just one game away from glory andin another rematch from earlier inthe day, the team faced Mouchel’ssecond team, winners of the previousencounter. Aching legs forgotten,Halcrow’s players battered theopposition’s goal, kept out only by thekeeper’s acrobatics. A late Mouchelgoal sealed victory for the third yearrunning, Halcrow’s battlers having tosettle for the runners-up medal.... and in the south eastLate last year, football enthusiasts from the UK’s Kent, Crawley andWaltham Cross offices, along with a team from client South EastWater, fought it out to be crowned the south east’s champions.Battling brummiesBaggy trousers... the Kent teamAfter a series of close matches, the Kent officefound itself up against South East Water in thegrand final. Having held on to a 1-1 draw in thefirst half (following a goal by Andrew Halliday),the client team proved too strong, hitting theback of the net a further two times. Crawleydefeated Waltham Cross in the third place playoff,winning a thrilling game 4-2.After the match, friendly rivalries were thrustaside as everyone tucked into a buffet meal,washed down with a well-earned drink.