Cross country races kick off athletics season

Dubai: The UAE Athletics Federation (UAEAF) will kick-start its 2012-13 season with a series of cross country races at Safa Park along Al Wasl Road today.

The races will be held in four age categories starting with cubs (born in 1997 onwards), juniors (1995 and 1996), youth (1993 and 1994) and seniors.

The initial entry list shows nearly 350 athletes from 16 clubs registered for the races, which will be held from 3.30pm onwards and signal the official start of the athletics season in the UAE.

The cubs race will be held over 2 kilometres, the juniors over 4km, the youths over 6km and the seniors over 8km.

“The new board of directors have met and chalked out a detailed programme so that we can start from the grassroots level at the right time of the year,” Adv Ahmad Al Kamali, president of the UAEAF and IAAF council member, told Gulf News.