Dubai: The UAE Athletics Association (UAEAA) is targeting the world's best women's road runners for its inaugural 5km road race to be held in October this year.
"We want the best to come to Dubai. We are currently in the process of preparing a list of top road runners from across the globe and the aim is to showcase Dubai as never before," Ahmad Al Kamali, UAEAA President told Gulf News.
The international road race is just one of the initial movements from the UAEAA to introduce and promote athletics as a sport in the country and the region. Though the event will be open on an invitation basis, there will be a separate road run for local residents as well.
"We want the exposure, and this will work both ways — the international athletes will see Dubai and what we have to offer and our athletes will get to rub shoulders with the world's best," Al Kamali said.
The UAEAA official held meetings with Lamine Diack, IAAF President along with UAE NOC officials Saeed Abdul Ghaffar, Abdul Rahman Falaknaz and Yousuf Al Serkal on the sidelines of the SportAccord International Convention 2010 held recently at the Atlantis Palm Jumeirah.
"We discussed and debated the need to take women's athletics in the UAE to a new level. To start with we need to create the right conditions to encourage women to participate in events here. And events like the road run will be a good start in this direction," Al Kamali said.
A tentative calendar for the UAEAA to be finalised in February 2011 will see an IAAF international one-day athletics meet for elite men and women athletes. "We want to take things step by step and such events will not only ensure our entry into the main stream, but also help in the training of officials for the future," Al Kamali said.
"We have a much better relationship with the IAAF now. Things are much clearer as to what we want to go and which direction we want to go. But the best is that we have a much better accountability factor. These are changing times for the sport in the UAE and in the region as well, and the women are right in the middle of this change," he added.
