The Definitive Guide to Living in the Capital , Cairo , Egypt

2013 has seen health and fitness in Cairo come to the forefront in the grandest of ways. On February 23rd earlier this year, the El-Fit Fitness Festival launched its inaugural edition to great success, bringing Cairenes from all over the city into one big melting pot of health-conscious fun. With a glut of fitness-oriented, family-friendly activities on offer, as well as a toughly contested competition, the organisers of El-Fit had one mission in mind: make getting fit fun for everyone.

Few can argue that the idea of living healthy isn’t exactly a priority with the majority of Cairenes. It comes down to accessibility on several levels, most notably in terms of education and money. The El-Fit Fitness Festival, however, aims at taking down these barriers and this weekend’s second edition of the festival is turning proceedings up a notch or two.

The core objective of the festival remains the same; fusing fitness and entertainment. Now, although this type of phrasing immediately conjures up images of bad infomercials and strange gimmicked exercise videos from the 80s, the fitness fanatics behind El-Fit have found a happy medium that can engage Cairenes from all walks of life.

‘Volume Two’ of the festival, as it has been so ostentatiously named, will take place at the Clubhouse, Uptown Cairo in Mokattam. With vast spaces of greenery – which shouldn’t be taken for granted in this city – the festival will this time take place over two days. As with El-Fit’s debut edition, much of the buzz can be attributed to one thing: the El-Fit Challenge – a gruelling and unforgiving obstacle course designed to test even the most dedicated of fitness fanatics in Cairo. As was the case previously, the competition is divided into four categories; men, women, over-forties and teams – the latter of which being quite the spectacle.

Though El-Fit’s goal is to provide an affable and friendly experience for all, there’s no messing around when it comes to the El-Fit Challenge; with a prize purse of almost 40,00LE to be shared amongst the top three participants in every category, this is one aspect of the festival that takes fitness very seriously.

But apart from this most epic of battles, there are plenty more activities to take part in, including huge sessions of Zumba and Jazzercise, in addition to a big run lead by Cairo Runners and a another lengthy bike ride headed by the GBI (Global Biking Initiative) Egypt Team, while kids activities are plentiful – so set the little ones on the path to better living!

You can book your tickets for the El-Fit Fitness Festival Volume Two on Cairo 360 now! For more information, check out the El-Fit Fitness Facebook page.