Dubai: Meet resident who ran 630km in under 6 days, raised Dh16,000 for diabetes patients

Khaleej Times

10-02-2025

Despite rowing 4,800km across the Pacific in 2023, British endurance athlete Harry Amos describes his latest feat—running across all seven emirates in under six days—as his toughest challenge yet. The 38-year-old former soldier crossed the finish line at the UAE-Saudi border around 1:30am on Thursday, completing the 630km-journey in five days, 21 hours, and 30 minutes.
Speaking about the toughest moments of the challenge, Amos described one of many unexpected obstacles: swelling feet. "My legs were functioning fine, but for the last two days, as soon as I stopped, the blood rushed into my feet, causing them to swell painfully. I had to keep elevating them (while resting)."
Beyond the physical pain, exhaustion took a toll. Running an average of 100km a day, Amos operated on only three hours of sleep each night, sustained by high-calorie meals including rice pudding packed with jam. He woke up at 3:30am every day to start his first stretch by 4 o'clock. His day was broken into multiple running segments, each ranging from 25-30km, intermitted with quick refuelling stops. The night shifts were the longest, he said, as he ran from 5 to 9pm every evening, and the hardest mentally, surrounded by darkness all around.
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Despite unexpected hurdles, like being stopped by the police and held back for a fair amount of time, Amos kept going, refusing to 'take the easy way out'.
'I witnessed on those six days one of the fittest displays of injuries and athleticism I have ever seen,' said his performance coach Nick Coats – also an endurance athlete himself and former soldier. 'The police even told him you should not carry on, that could've been an easy way, but he decided to continue.' Even when Amos had the chance to take 'easy' rests at the petrol stations across the highway, he preferred to stay 'on the side of the street with lorries brushing dust against him, because it was how he had intended to rest.'
He said the most enjoyable parts of the run were when there was a change of scenery. 'When we came out of the south side of Abu Dhabi city, the sun was coming up and you can see the beautiful flat deserts,' he described. 'Also coming into this kind of metropolis running into Dubai, then you go to a familiar scenery, the Sharjah hustle and bustle. Another highlight was going to the highest points, like in Masafi you go through a deep climb through the mountains.'
His support crew, including Coats, physiotherapists, family and friends, set up checkpoints every 7.5km. "They'd be ahead with food, water, and, by day three, painkillers. I maxed out on paracetamol and had to switch to ibuprofen to manage the swelling."
Another unexpected hurdle was when Amos and five running companions who joined him for a fraction of the run were stopped by Abu Dhabi police over safety concerns. "A senior officer reported the run, and we were escorted to a station, where I spent four crucial hours. They told me, 'You can keep going, but don't make a scene.' That delay cost me 25km, which I had to make up over the next two days."
He also experienced a fair amount of comic hallucinations. "During the last 10km, I thought my friend running behind me was imaginary. When he ran ahead at a checkpoint, I was shocked he was real."
There were also moments when he felt direct divine graciousness. 'I was on a very long leg on about day four, and I suddenly really needed to go to the loo, but I realised I didn't have any wet wipes,' he recalled. 'And I was thinking this is a real problem, Oh God please help me. And at that moment, I found a toilet paper roll on the side of the road; it was just lying there with nothing around, and it was a half full, clean, sufficient roll; So that was a thank you God moment.'
Supported by Spinneys and M42, with medical aid from Healthpoint Hospital and Mubadala Health Dubai, Amos embarked on this ultra-endurance journey to raise Dh15,000 for the International Diabetes Federation; 'we gladly raised about Dh16,000', he said after his feat.
Amos was inspired to dedicate this run to raising awareness around diabetes by his godfather, a fit mountaineer who has lived with the disease for years. 'Sadly, not because he's unfit, he is incredibly fit; he is one of the few people that got it for kind of medical reasons and has lived with it for a very long time.'
'And I always admired him, because he stays fit and climbs mountains, he even climbed Everest, he just has to have his insulin shots with him all the time.'
The other reason that drove him to run to raise awareness about the chronic disease, he said, is because 'the majority of people get diabetes because they make bad decisions - they eat terribly, and they don't exercise. I'm not saintly in my (food) intake. I eat some bad food sometimes, but I'm religious about my running, sports and exercise.'
'Plus, running makes you happy, it actually makes you more content with your existence. Nothing else does that; people may take drugs or alcohol to make them happy, but it doesn't last; all these things make you happy temporarily.'
'If even one person starts exercising after seeing this challenge, I consider that a success,' he added.
Despite calling this his hardest challenge, Amos expects whatever comes next to be tougher. "The toughest challenge is always the next one. I just don't know what it is yet.'
When asked what he would do next, Amos said he would focus on spending time with his wife, two daughters and 11-month-old son. 'I have no plans immediately; my wife has endured back to back challenges since the day we met and this was supposed to be a low key light touch one, so the plan is to focus on family time and a bit of business as well.' His wife, Phoebe Amos, summed it up with a joke: "A few years ago, I asked him what would impress me. Now, I think a week of school runs would do the trick."
Amos has been living in the UAE since 2016 and runs a market entry consultancy in Dubai.