# Desk to 5K

> A twelve-week programme, not an event. Coached sessions from week one, a tracking app, and a closed-route race day with timing chips and medals at the end of it.

Package F-04 from Offsyte, corporate recreation in the UAE · [Sports & Wellness](https://offsyte.ae/catalog/corporate-sports-and-wellness/) · Web page: https://offsyte.ae/packages/desk-to-5k/

- **Duration:** 12 weeks, ending in a 4-hr race day
- **Ideal start time:** Race day 06:00 — anything later is unrunnable for eight months of the year
- **Departure window:** Programme starts any week; race day is a Saturday morning
- **Group size:** 30 min — 300 max
- **Emirate / venue:** Dubai, Sharjah or Abu Dhabi — client's own area for training, closed promenade route for race day
- **Season:** Year-round. Oct–Apr race days at 06:00; May–Sep race days move to 05:30 and an indoor track option applies
- **Booking lead time:** 35 days — the race permit and marshalling clearance set the floor

## Price per person, excluding 5% VAT

| Group size | Per person | Billed for at least |
| --- | ---: | ---: |
| 30–59 people | AED 560 | 47 people |
| 60–149 people | AED 490 | — |
| 150+ people | AED 430 | — |

A group smaller than a band's "billed for at least" figure is still served, and is invoiced for that many people.
Where a larger band costs less in total, it is quoted instead: groups of 53–59 are billed as 60 people at the rate for 60–149 people; groups of 132–149 are billed as 150 people at the rate for 150+ people.

Payment: 50% advance on signature. 100% cleared 3 working days before the event. Numbers lock 7 days prior.

## Why this is not the retail version

A public 5K entry is **AED 80–150** and every emirate runs them all winter. A company can simply tell its staff to sign up, and some do.

**Roughly nobody who is not already a runner takes that up.** That is the whole problem this package addresses. The people a corporate fitness initiative is actually for — the ones who have not run since school — do not enter a public race, because the first step is too far and there is nothing between the email and the start line.

**The twelve weeks is the product; the race is the deadline.** Six coached sessions at their own office, an app that shows the finance team beating operations, a time trial at week six that proves something has changed, and pace coaches on the day running at a 40-minute target so the slowest finisher still finishes in a group. Every one of those exists to get a non-runner to the line.

**What the HR lead buys is a twelve-week engagement arc for the price of one event.** Every other package in this catalog is a day. This is in the client's internal comms for three months, and the standings email at week six does more for the thing they are actually measuring than any single offsite.

**And the last finisher matters more than the first.** A coach and the coordinator stay with them, and the results board is by improvement as well as by time. A programme that celebrates the fastest person has failed at what it was bought for.

## Timeline

- **Week 0** — Launch briefing at the client's office. App onboarding, baseline walk-test, teams formed
- **Weeks 1–11** — Six coached group sessions across the programme, at the client's own location. App tracks everyone else's independent runs
- **Week 6** — Halfway checkpoint — a 3K time trial and a standings email
- **Week 11** — Taper week. Route briefing, bib and chip collection
- **Race day** — 
- **05:30** — Setup complete — start/finish gantry, timing mats, marshals in position
- **06:00** — Arrival, bibs on, warm-up led by the pace coaches
- **06:25** — Race brief
- **06:30** — Start. Pace coaches run at 25, 30, 35 and 40-minute targets so nobody runs alone
- **07:15** — Bulk of the field finishes. Medals at the line
- **07:45** — Final finishers — the coordinator and one coach stay with the last runner, always
- **08:00** — Refreshments, results board, team and individual awards
- **09:00** — Close

## Included

- Launch briefing and baseline test at the client's own location
- Tracking platform for 12 weeks — individual and team leaderboards, per attendee
- Six coached group sessions across the programme
- Week-6 time trial and standings communication
- Race day: permit and marshalling clearance for a closed route
- Chip timing, start/finish gantry, marshals
- Four pace coaches running to fixed finish targets
- Race bibs and finisher medals, per attendee
- Race-day refreshments
- Branded setup at the start and finish
- Photographer, half day on race day, and an edited 90-second reel within 5 working days
- Medic on site for the whole race day
- Event coordinator

## Not included

- Running shoes or personal kit
- Individual medical clearance — the client's responsibility, see below
- Transport to race day (attendees self-drive)
- 5% VAT

## Weather and backup plan

- **Trigger:** Rain or wind above 30 knots on race day; a forecast temperature above 30°C at 06:00, which in practice governs May–September.
- **Fallback:** Race day moves to the following Saturday — the permit is applied for with a stated reserve date at the point of booking, which is why the lead time is 35 days. In the summer months the contracted alternative is an indoor athletics track, at a AED 40/person supplement absorbed by us. The twelve-week programme is never affected, only its finish line.
- **You are told by:** By 16:00 on the Thursday before, to the client's programme lead and directly to every registered runner through the app.

## Customisation options

- Extend to a 10K programme, 16 weeks: AED 180/person
- Additional coached sessions, each: AED 400
- Branded technical running shirts: AED 75/person
- Physiotherapy clinic at week 6: AED 2,800/event
- Family wave at race day — 1K for children: AED 60/person
- Charity fundraising integration with a named cause: AED 3,200/event
- Post-race breakfast: AED 55/person
- Repeat programme at 6-month intervals: −12% on the annual value

## Questions about Desk to 5K

### How much does Desk to 5K cost per person?

AED 560 per person for 30–59 people; AED 490 per person for 60–149 people; AED 430 per person for 150+ people. All figures exclude 5% VAT. A group below a band's minimum chargeable size is billed at that minimum: 47 people in the 30–59 band. Where a larger band costs less in total, it is quoted instead: groups of 53–59 are billed as 60 people at the rate for 60–149 people; groups of 132–149 are billed as 150 people at the rate for 150+ people.

### How long does Desk to 5K take, and when does it start?

12 weeks, ending in a 4-hr race day. Ideal start: Race day 06:00 — anything later is unrunnable for eight months of the year. Departure window: Programme starts any week; race day is a Saturday morning.

### What is not included in Desk to 5K?

Running shoes or personal kit; Individual medical clearance — the client's responsibility, see below; Transport to race day (attendees self-drive); 5% VAT. These are stated before enquiry rather than raised at invoice time.

### What happens to Desk to 5K if the weather turns?

Trigger: Rain or wind above 30 knots on race day; a forecast temperature above 30°C at 06:00, which in practice governs May–September. Fallback: Race day moves to the following Saturday — the permit is applied for with a stated reserve date at the point of booking, which is why the lead time is 35 days. In the summer months the contracted alternative is an indoor athletics track, at a AED 40/person supplement absorbed by us. The twelve-week programme is never affected, only its finish line. You are told: By 16:00 on the Thursday before, to the client's programme lead and directly to every registered runner through the app.

### How far in advance do we need to book Desk to 5K?

The booking lead time is 35 days — the race permit and marshalling clearance set the floor. Ramadan and December dates book out first.

## Read before you book

- [Dubai Fitness Challenge 2026: what to do as a company](https://offsyte.ae/blog/dubai-fitness-challenge-for-companies/): The Dubai Fitness Challenge's 10th edition runs to 29 November 2026. What a company can still organise this month, and why a 12-week programme is a spring plan.
- [Company family days and corporate sports days](https://offsyte.ae/blog/company-family-day-sports-day-uae/): How to run a family day or sports day for a UAE company — group sizes, real per-person prices, the months that work, and the four things that decide it.
- [Employee wellbeing activities that are not a fruit bowl](https://offsyte.ae/blog/employee-wellbeing-activities-work/): What workplace wellbeing looks like when it is run properly in the UAE — real formats, real prices, and why the one-off wellness day rarely changes anything.

Request a proposal: https://offsyte.ae/enquire/?package=F-04 · proposals@offsyte.ae