Fujairah: Preparations are underway for the second Fujairah International Half Marathon, to be held on April 19.
The race is being held under the auspices of Shaikh Mohammad Bin Hamad Al Sharqi, Crown Prince of Fujairah.
Some of the top runners from across the Gulf and Arab regions have already confirmed their participation in the race, along with entries from Kenya, Eritrea, Ethiopia, UK and a select pack of invited distance runners some of whom participated at the 2012 London Olympic Games.
The details of this year’s race were announced at a press conference held at the Hotel Concorde Fujairah in the presence of President of the Organising Committee Salem Zahmi and Saleh Mohammad Hassan, who is Race Director and Board Member of the UAE Athletics Federation.
“We are forever indebted to Shaikh Mohammad Bin Hamad Al Sharqi, Crown Prince of Fujairah, for his unwavering support in backing such events that put Fujairah in the sports limelight,” Saleh said.
“It is always our endeavour to go one better each time. We started small last year and this time we are carrying out adequate steps to ensure Fujairah comes across as one of the best half marathons in the world,” he added.
In the inaugural year, Traby Hmatou Laila of France and Evans Kiplagat of Kenya were crowned champions in the women’s and men’s categories respectively in the last week of April.
Laila, originally from Morocco but now representing France, completed the 21km in a time of one hour, 23 minutes 48.26 seconds, with the next four places all going to runners from Ethiopia.
After last year’s huge success, which saw the attendance of nearly 5,000 runners from across the world, organisers are this time targeting an entry list of at least 6,000.
“We have some top runners coming in for this event, but we prefer keeping these names a secret for the time being. Our idea is to bring in the best half marathon runners so that Fujairah stands out as a sporting destination in the UAE,” Saleh added.
