A new class of camel-racing women breaking ground in the Middle East

The camels at the start line growl and grunt before the gate goes up, then stretch out their long necks and gallop along the sandy track.

"Yah! Yah! Yah!" shouts one camel owner from a car parked alongside the racetrack, banging on the car door to urge on animal and jockey alike.

Welcome to the event that has been dubbed the Grand Prix of camel racing in Taif, south-western Saudi Arabia, where camels race some 250 laps for prizes worth $13 million.

This camel festival, held in honour of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, is now in its sixth year and is on par with the richest horse races worldwide. This year, some 21,000 camels are taking part.

Camel racing has come to be recognized as a serious international sport and a great tourist attraction in several Middle Eastern countries.

For centuries, horse racing has been predominantly male-dominated, but women are now breaking into the sport, with support from a pioneering German woman.

"Last year it was still an exception, but now it's really part of the programme," says Linda Krockenberger, a native of the German state of Baden-Württemberg, who has founded Dubai's first camel riding school for women.

"Confidence is growing that women can do it and that the training wheels can be taken off," She says.

The official premiere, a camel race for women under the supervision of a federation, was held place here in Taif last year.

Krockenberger brought 10 women to the starting line and brought 25 this year.

The separate women's races fit suit the modern image Saudi Arabia has been trying to project for several years, now allowing women to drive cars, start businesses – and compete in camel races.

"It's not accepted by everyone," says an Iranian rider. "But some people really do support it."

Despite the reforms, Saudi Arabia still has a poor record when it comes to women's rights, according to human rights activists.

Top-class camels compete

On the Arabian Peninsula, the one-humped camels were and are a status symbol, once kept for their meat, milk, wool and leather as well as for transport.

But even in the 7th century, people held races as a popular sport, and later also staged them at weddings and religious festivals. The sport then spread to East Africa, India and Australia.

The breed of racing camels is highly refined in the Arab world, thanks to advanced training techniques and breeding programmes, including artificial insemination and embryo transfers.

What began as a tradition among nomadic desert peoples has evolved into a high-performance industry, enhanced by modern technology.

Today, some camels aren't ridden by jockeys but by small robots, controlled remotely by their owners to activate the whip with radio signals.

The robots' lighter weight enables the young animals to run faster and they suffer fewer vertebral injuries.

Owners and trainers eagerly follow their progress, driving alongside the track in their off-road vehicles, jostling and honking and occasionally causing an accident.

'Against every law of physics'

Krockenberger and her team look focused as they mount. They tuck their feet – they ride in socks – under the seat, and support their knees on the camel's back.

There are no saddles or stirrups like there are for horses. “You bounce around a lot. It's against every law of physics,” says one participant after the race.

Although the race is only two kilometres long and takes just a few minutes, some of the participants still had shaking hands half an hour later.

"It's such an exhausting three minutes, you just can't underestimate it," says Swaantje Jorina Niehus, who travelled from Zug in Switzerland for the race.

She started at Krockenberger's school two years ago and now flies to Dubai about every three months for training.

You are also at the camel's mercy to some extent, says Niehus. The animals can weigh up to 800 kilograms and usually keep on cantering or trotting once the herd has started moving, right up to the finish line. "In horse racing, you can stop. That's not an option here."

An Algerian woman from Krockenberger's team takes first place, visibly overwhelmed with emotion as she stands on the winners' podium.

Krockenberger understands that it will take time and patience before women are included in major official races in places like the Emirates.

Still, she remains hopeful, watching as drivers guide the camel herds around the track outside the grandstand.

"If I don't do it," she says, "who will?"