Dubai: Ethiopian and Moroccan runners emerged supreme in the 10km road race held as part of the third Nad Al Sheba (NAS) Ramadan Sports at the NAS Sports Complex late on Friday.
All three positions in the international male category were taken by runners from Ethiopia, while their women athletes claimed two of the top three in the international women’s category.
There was further success for their UAE-based runners as two of the top three winners in the expatriates female category were from Ethiopia. Moroccan runners who are regular participants in the UAE races were also big winners as they made a clean sweep in the expatriates male division.
Ashenafi Moges Weldegiorgis led the Ethiopian clean sweep in the International Male category with a time of 30.09 minutes followed by Lema Birbirsa Tola (30.13) and Hafte Berhe Kahsay (30.20). Despite a scorching early pace set by Morocco’s Adeel Badi, Weldegiorgis could not better the race time of 29.48 minutes set by last year’s winner Aziz Mustafa of France.
The three Ethiopians who arrived in the UAE a couple of days ago found it tough coming to terms with the evening humidity. But Weldegiorgis was pleased with his bumper prize that he earned along with his teammates. “This amount will definitely help me chase my target of qualifying for the Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games,” Weldegiorgis told Gulf News after receiving his prize from Hassan Al Mazrouei, Tournament Director, NAS Ramadan Sports Tournament.
“Proper preparation for the national trials is now the top priority for me. In Ethiopia there are hundreds of quality runners, but I want to train hard and make the trip to Brazil next summer,” the 20-year-old added.
In the International Female category, Ethiopia’s Mihret Tefera Adhena took the top prize with a time of 35.50 minutes, while her teammate Aynalem Woldewariyat Woldemichael was second in 35.52 minutes followed by Morocco’s Malika Asahssah in third with a time of 36.14 minutes.
More than 900 runners participated in Friday’s road race that was held in eight different categories. The race was flagged off near the Falcon Heritage Centre in Meydan and finished at the NAS Sports Complex.
On Friday, tournament patron Shaikh Hamdan Bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman, Dubai Sports Council, announced the increase in prize money for the 10km road race. An initial amount of Dh 1.67 million had been initially earmarked for the race, but this was ordered to be raised to Dh 2 million after seeing the huge response to the event.
The total amount announced for the entire NAS Ramadan Sports Tournament has now gone up to more than Dh 8 million for the winners in all seven sports disciplines.
