Dubai: Registration for the 2021 Ras Al Khaimah Half Marathon has officially opened, with runners from across the UAE and further afield invited to secure a spot at next year’s event that is scheduled to take place on Al Marjan Island in February.
The World Athletics Gold Label race will be the landmark 15th edition of the event, which has proved to be a huge success down the years as both professional and amateur athletes gather in Ras Al Khaimah to compete. Preparations for the event are now under way, with stringent safety measures to be implemented across the board in order to safeguard participants, volunteers, guests and residents, aligned with global best practice and national federal directives.
The race is Bureau Veritas certified as a SafeGuard Assurance Programme, a four-step methodology designed to verify, certify and promote the hygiene and cleanliness standards of customer-facing businesses, ensuring all health, safety and hygiene procedures are effectively implemented.
The 2020 event attracted over 5,200 entries and saw Ethiopia’s Ababel Yeshaneh break the world record by 20 seconds in the elite female race with a time of 64:31 minutes.
Runners wishing to compete can register at website therakhalfmarathon.com.
New for next year’s event is the introduction of a Platinum package that has been priced at Dh550 to provide participants with an elite race experience. With only 100 slots available, Platinum package runners will begin the race in a special area of the course and start ahead of other competitors, ensuring the best possible race conditions.
Other benefits will include a personalised elite-style bib, a free pair of Ras Al Khaimah Half Marathon performance run socks and a dedicated parking spot close to the start line. Aside from the Platinum package, the earliest starting slot is Wave 1 at 7.30am, with the seventh and final wave at 9am.
Starting grids, consisting of no more than 400 athletes per wave, will be marked for social distancing, with 15-minute intervals between each wave beginning the race. Apart from the Platinum package, which will stay open until capacity is reached, each respective wave will only go on sale once the previous one has been sold out.
