Jeddah’s most loved hotel has underlined its continued commitment to supporting the local Saudi community with its popular Vertical Marathon initiative, which this year was dedicated to the Jeddah Autism Center.

All eyes were on Rosewood Corniche for the second edition of the vertical marathon on April 10, when the hotel’s staff and guests were joined by 32 children from the Jeddah Autism Center and Al Anjal School along with a host of volunteers.

The challenge was for each team to run up 17 floors of the hotel to the roof of the property and back down again to the entrance.

The teams were divided into three different categories – children, hotel employees, and volunteers, which included a number of supporters from the Friends of Autism group as well as local teachers.

The winning place in the children’s category went to a team comprising a combination of children from both the Center and Al-Anjal School, while the engineering team took home glory in the hotel employee category.

The Friends of Autism team, a group of teachers, won the volunteers category.

Hans Peter-Leitzke, managing director of Rosewood Corniche, said: “This was one of the highlights of our year so far and it was a great way to bring many people who support autism together to do something fun, active and rather tiring.”

The official added: “Supporting the community is one of the core values of Rosewood Corniche, and I see more and more enthusiasm from our team and volunteers each time we undertake a new initiative. Seeing the children who took part working in teams was very rewarding.”

Hans Peter-Leitzke said: “The event brought together different generations, from a range of backgrounds, cultures and nationalities all working with one objective, to have a really fun day out.”

Since joining the Friends of Autism support group in 2011, Rosewood Corniche has become a loyal supporter of Jeddah Autism Center and has been involved in a number of initiatives, most recently the ´Lets paint a smile on children’s faces’ event where 87 hotel staff members volunteered to make-over and freshen up a floor of the Jeddah Autism Center to create a more vibrant space for the children.

Omaima Al-Moghrabi, vice president of Al-Faisalya Women Welfare Association and president of Jeddah Autism Center, said: “This vertical marathon comes under the framework of integrating autistic children in their communities, proving their physical and mental capacities, and highlighting their talents in order to boost their participation in international championships and sport events.”

He added” “Showing the physical and mental capacities of autistic children and educating society about their cause will help provide them with one of their basic social rights — care and appreciation.”