One of the world’s hardest and most exhilarating urban athletic challenges, the ‘Urbanathlon’ race, will be held at Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi on October 24, with a trip to the USA event up for grabs for the winner.

Registration is now open and entries are encouraged from men and women aged 18 and above, as well as corporate groups looking to take advantage of a unique and fun team-building opportunity. However, with less than two weeks remaining, urbanathletes need to register soon.

The race promises to be the region’s most difficult, with a fiendishly fun range of 18 obstacles to navigate over the 10-kilometre course.

The layout will see competitors crawling under Aston Martins and other high performance cars, sprayed with high-pressure water jets to slow them down, as well as having to drag a tyre for 75 metres down the drag strip and swim 110 metres across Yas Marina.

If that wasn’t enough, competitors will also have to use oil drums for stepping stones, swing acrossmonkey bars, climb through gravel pits and squeeze between two workshop lorries positioned on the track half a metre apart, among other hurdles.

“I’m delighted that we’re able to kick off Men’s Health in the region with such a flagship event as the Urbanathlon,” said Men's Health magazine editor, Andrew Nagy.

And he has called for people of different abilities to take part: “The thing to remember though, is that this isn’t just for elite athletes, this is a test thrown out to people of all fitness levels and I’m certain thatit’s set to become a firm fixture in our annual fitness calendar.

The race has taken place in over 25 cities across six continents, and Abu Dhabi is the latest addition to the global roster.

Organised by Men’s Health Middle East, and supported by National Health Insurance Company – Daman’s ActiveLife initiative, Urbanathlon adds yet another world-class, innovative event to the Yas Marina Circuit’s already impressive health and fitness portfolio.

Andrew Phillips, director ofmarketing and customer experience at Daman, said: “Daman’s ActiveLife is delighted to support Urbanathlon as key sponsor for its Middle East debut and we would encourage everyone to register and participate.

“Our partnership with this brand new event underscores Daman’s commitment to engaging and empowering residents and companies towards a more healthy lifestyle in the UAE.”

Nick McElwee, director of sales and marketing at Yas Marina Circuit, added: “We are very pleased to add the Urbanathlon to our extensive health and fitness calendar. It is exciting to be part of the first ever Urbanathlon held within the UAE and it adds a new dimension for our health and fitness community to engage with.

“In particular, we are keen to encourage corporates to take up this challenge and see if they are tough enough, we think company engagement in health programmes is key to a healthier Abu Dhabi.”

Entry fee is Dh250 per person or Dh800 for a team of four. To register, visit www.premieronline.com or www.yasmarinacircuit.com.