Dubai – Franky Spencer, 40, a fitness instructor originally from the UK will be competing in a 52.5km quadrathlon to raise money for the new building of the Dubai Autism Centre
He will be swimming, cycling, paddling and running along the 52.5 kilometre shoreline of Dubai, all within 5 hours
The charity quadrathlon will be taking place on February 28, and Mariam M. Al Serka of Gulf News reports that Franky hopes that his efforts will raise a significant contribution towards the new building of the Dubai Autism Center (DAC).
Franky said:
“The centre caters to 46 students but that is not enough, because there are 270 more students on the waiting list. I want to do the quadrathlon to not only help children with autism but also for their parents, as it is such a huge challenge for them when communication takes its toll,”
DAC is a non-profit organisation and provides information, support, advice and training to professionals and parents of autistic children.
Franky has a burst in two of his spinal discs, but the article reports that he will ‘swim 500 meters across Mamzar Lagoon, then cycle 30km to Jumeirah Beach, and paddle 10km to The Palm, before finishing with a 12km run.’
Franky continued to add:
“There are a lot of awareness events for cancer but not enough for children with special need. Since I’ve always done charity work, I thought that this is one cause that certainly needs more awareness. It is our city and we should all put our efforts in helping out,”
Work on the new building began in 2007 but due to lack of funds construction was delayed. Once open they aim to cater for as many as 300 autistic children.
Franky finally says:
“If this is a success, then I intend to organise it into a race next year. If we get a mass response, then there’s more hope for the children and for them to get a bigger centre,”
The full article by Mariam M. Al Serkal on gulfnews.com can be read here