Iraqi Tour, a journey to break barriers, paint a new image of the country

INA - BAGHDAD

The Iraqi News Agency - INA met with the owner of the idea of the Iraqi Tour and the team leader, Haider Al-Aasam, who revealed the details of the initiative he launched.

He explained that it came after the experience of organizing the Najaf-Karbala Marathon, where he had the idea of holding a bicycle tour that starts from the far south of Iraq to the holy Karbala.

"The idea of the Iraqi Tour was born three years ago when I organized a marathon between Najaf and the holy Karbala. Then I thought of holding a bicycle race that would extend from the farthest point in southern Iraq to Karbala. The name of the tour is inspired by international races such as the Tour de France and the Tour of Pakistan," he added.

The tour started on January 28th from the Manawi Pasha Hotel in Basra, and 42 cyclists of different nationalities participated in it. 


The participants covered more than 120 kilometers daily. The trip lasted for six days, with the following stops:

Day 1: A short tour inside Basra for a distance of 50-55 km, to test the level of the participants.

Day 2: Moving to Al-Jabaish in Nasiriyah, with an overnight stay there.

Day 3: Heading to Simawah, and staying there.

Day 4: Arriving in Najaf, where the team stayed for two days to visit Kufa and Najaf.

Day 6: Moving from Najaf to Karbala, where the tour concluded.

Al-Aasam stressed that the tour was not just a sports race, but rather aimed to break the stereotype of Iraq as an unsafe country and prove the opposite by hosting athletes from England, Canada, Singapore, and Tanzania.

"We wanted to show the world that Iraq is a safe and hospitable country, where there were more than 30 participants from England, 7 from Canada, 1 from Singapore, and 2 from Tanzania, and many of them had never visited Iraq before, and only knew the religious shrines, but they completely changed their view after this experience," he highlighted.


He also explained that "such activities are related to collecting donations for orphans in Iraq, where previous activities contributed to financing 1,300 lens implants, 47 open heart surgeries, in addition to water desalination projects in Iraq, Tanzania, and Kenya, and sponsoring more than 50 orphans. Part of the donations were also directed to Gaza."

The participants’ impressions showed that “We will replace the name “State of Iraq” with “Paradise of Iraq,” and another said, "We do not want to wake up from this beautiful dream that we lived."

Everyone was affected by "the Iraqi generosity and warm welcome, and the feeling upon arriving in the holy Karbala was not only joy, but also sadness for the end of this wonderful journey."

Al-Aasam indicated that “the participants bore the expenses of travel and sports equipment, while the Iraqi government provided internal transportation, housing, and food.”

"There are plans to organize other sports events, expressing his hope to increase the number of participants in the upcoming events, to enhance the interaction between external expertise and athletes inside Iraq,” he concluded.