In the coming months Nitzana will host a range of duathlon competitions within the framework of the village's Sport and Science program. Competitors from throughout Israel will run the 10 kilometers from the Peace Sculpture to the Israel-Egypt border and then cycle across the desert for 40 kilometers to and from the Nabatean village of Shivta, enjoying the Spring flowers. In the future it is hoped to adapt a desalination pool for swimming and thus reintroduce a triathlon. The Nitzana region is ideal for such activities as well as mountain biking, orienteering and other challenging sports. The wide open spaces and unpolluted air of the sparsely populated region provide an appropriate arena. And the physiological changes that sport produces is used to help team science to students, many of whom, are otherwise "turned off".

Kislev 5764 - December 2003