Saudi camel festival enters Guinness World Records

Crown Prince Camel Festival has entered the Guinness World Records as the largest camel sports festival in the world. This year’s festival saw the participation of a record 11,186 camels, which competed in 787 rounds of competition over more than 40 days from August 11 to September 22.

The world record came at a time when Saudi was celebrating its 88th National Day celebrated on September 23 every year.

Prince Fahd Bin Jalawi Bin Abdulaziz Bin Musaed, president of the Saudi Arabian Camel Federation, accepted the official certificate confirming the festival’s accomplishment from Guinness representative Ahmad Jamal Al-Din. Prince Abdulaziz Bin Turki Al-Faisal, deputy president of the General Sports Authority, also attended the event at the camel racing grounds in Taif.

The festival’s key aim is to showcase and boost the camel-racing heritage of the Kingdom and the Gulf Arab countries. The camel festival has four phases, with key races taking place on weekends. There were warm-up rounds, racing rounds, marathon rounds, production rounds and closing-in rounds. Also featured were sports, cultural and entertainment activities alongside educational workshops for camel owners and visitors interested in camel sports.