The 2024 King Abdulaziz Falconry Festival, which featured a prize pool of more than $9.6 million, the largest in the history of the event, concluded on Thursday.
The festival ran from December 2 to December 19 and was organized by the The Saudi Falcons Club at its headquarters in Malham, north of Riyadh. It featured 1,032 falconers and 3,322 birds. 160 falconers came from outside the Kingdom representing eight countries — Bahrain, Kuwait, the UAE, Oman, Qatar, Syria, Italy and Ireland.
This year’s festival offered $9.6m in prizes, the largest prize pool in the event’s history. The grand finale featured the prestigious “King’s Sword” competition in the “Al-Mallouah” falconry race, with a total prize pool of about $500,000 with each round offering about $250,000.
The competition included 49 youth participants in the “Future Falconer” category.
Travel and Tour World reported that, “The festival featured several highly anticipated rounds, including 73 rounds of the prestigious King Abdulaziz Cup, with participants vying for the coveted King Abdulaziz Trophies. The festival was structured across 138 competition rounds, including 49 qualifying rounds for local professionals and amateurs, six rounds for international falcons, as well as special rounds for youth and women.”
Talal bin Abdulaziz Al-Shamisi, CEO of the Saudi Falcon Club, noted, “Falconry is not just a sport; it’s a way of life that has been passed down through generations. We are proud to continue this tradition while working towards its preservation in a modern world. We aim to use falconry to promote Saudi Arabia’s cultural and environmental values globally.”
