Fitness First gears up with Pink Zumbathon to highlight Breast Cancer Awareness this October

UAE, 2014: Re-iterating it’s commitment towards undertaking initiatives with a cause; Fitness First Middle East, the world’s leading health and fitness club chain owned and operated under license by Landmark Leisure and Hospitality Services Ltd, has announced its plans of organizing the exclusive Pink Zumbathon for women and children this October.

Global statistics indicate that one in eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime. Globally, over one million new cases of breast cancer among females are detected each year. The statistics also show that there are about 2.6 million female survivors of breast cancer in the world.

A study by Sheikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum Award for Medical Sciences' Centre for Arab Genomic Studies reveals that cancer is the third leading cause of death in the UAE following heart disease and accidents.

In a bid to bolster its Breast Cancer awareness initiative, Fitness First will organize a high energy event, which will take place at the Fitness First Meadows SportsZone.

The Pink Zumbathon, which is scheduled for 26th October 2014, 6pm – 10pm will seek to rally women in the UAE to recognize the importance of keeping fit as one way of minimizing the risk of Breast Cancer. The event will also take participants through an emotional and inspirational journey of Breast Cancer survivors and will celebrate their triumph over the disease.

Fitness First will give away 1000 one-day guest passes in October to visitors and fans of its Facebook page to help create awareness and encourage women to stay active and healthy to reduce risks of Breast Cancer.

Organized in support of ‘Breast Cancer Arabia’; the event is open for all, members as well as non-members, women, and children. A 3 hours non-stop Zumba for adults and 1 hour Zumba for kids at the plush 15,000 sq. feet premium indoor hall SportsZone, in Meadows will be the centrepoint of this awareness campaign.

"We are very happy to be collaborating with Fitness First this October, as we share many objectives of empowering women to be active, healthy and proactive with their health." said Elizabeth Reyes- Co Founder, Breast Cancer Arabia™

Elaborating on the awareness campaign Mark Botha, Group Operations and Marketing Manager said; As Fitness First, we want to play our part in showing great concern in regards to the rate at which Breast Cancer is steadily affecting women and especially in this region. We recognize that more needs to be done and hence we felt the need to highlight this issue with a rigorous campaign mainly as a wakeup call to all stakeholders.

He went on to add, “We as an entity feel responsible towards raising awareness and conveying the importance of exercising and staying fit to reduce breast cancer risks. We would also like to take this opportunity to urge women to go in for regular examinations so as to allow early detection and prompt treatment at early stages if any. Our campaign is a sincere effort for a cause and we look forward to mass participation from as many women as possible.”

Efforts to reduce the prevalence rate of Breast Cancer continue to be highlighted even at the grassroots level. The most common early detection activities such as Breast Self-Examination (BSE) are highly recommended. BSE and Clinical Breast Examination as well as mammograms are the important methods traditionally used for detecting Breast Cancer in the early stage.

Mark your calendars ladies for your participation in the Pink month! To register for the event, SMS your name and 'Zumbathon' to 4900

For further advice or more information, call us on call 800 FITNESS (348 6377), visit www.fitnessfirst-me.com or log on to our Facebook page