Dubai: Meet the ultra-cyclist who has dedicated her career to supporting female athletes

While many of us are aware that men’s sport gets more media coverage than women’s sport, few are driven enough to try and do something about it – like Dubai resident Dawn Barnable.

In 2022, the Canadian expat co-founded one of the first platforms in the Middle East to put the spotlight on women’s sports and highlight niche endurance and action sports that are rarely featured in mainstream media.

Now with 84 episodes, The Mettleset has listeners in 114 countries, featuring many of the region’s most exciting female (and male) sporting trailblazers, including Moroj Adil, Saudi Arabia’s first pro cyclist, and Nadhira Al Harthy, the first Omani woman to summit Everest.

“Our success shows that people want to hear from more female voices and diverse perspectives from the Middle East,” Barnable told Khaleej Times.

The 43-year-old researches, presents, and edits every episode herself. It’s a lot of work, especially as she balances it with running her own communications consultancy.

She noted that there has never been a more exciting time to be involved with women’s sport in the Middle East. “Every week there seems to be another woman achieving an amazing feat that will go down in history.”

“For example, this summer we saw Safiya Al Sayegh become the first female Emirati cyclist to compete in the Olympics, while Dunya Abu Talib became the first Saudi woman to secure a direct qualification to the Olympics. It’s an honour to support them and help the region develop its women’s sports ecosystem.”

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Striving for change

Barnable has worked in sports communications for 14 years. The idea for the podcast first sparked in 2019 when she became frustrated by how difficult it was to generate media coverage of a women’s sporting event that she was working on. Her interest in endurance and niche sports increased when she completed her first ultra-cycling event the same year.

She shared: “I went from buying a bicycle to completing the 1,030-km BikingMan Oman in just three months. It was a crazy thing to attempt, but I loved everything about it. It showed me that with hard work and perseverance, anything is possible.”

“I love being out on my bike and spending time in nature. Biking has introduced me to so many incredible people and those hours I spent alone in Oman also helped me define the type of life I want to lead, and how I want to show up in the world,” she added.

In 2022, she accepted a new job that she very quickly realised was not in line with her values. It inspired her to quit, go completely in the other direction, and finally take the plunge and launch her own platform.

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