The fourth Ooredoo marathon, held at Doha Corniche on Friday, attracted a large number of professional and amateur runners, as well as enthusiasts.
HE the Minister of Youth and Sports Salah bin Ghanem bin Nasser al-Ali and Ooredoo chairman HE Sheikh Abdulla bin Mohamed bin Saud al-Thani joined nearly 2,000 participants during the kick off at the Museum Of Islamic Arts Park at 6.30am.
Amos Maindi from Kenya, who participated in the Ooredoo marathon for the first time, won the 42km full marathon in two hours, 21 minutes and 19 seconds - at least 12 minutes slower than his best time in the same category.
His girlfriend, Pamela Chepkoech Bundotich, also from Kenya, won the women’s category in two hours and 58 minutes.
“I feel good after the run, everything went well as planned and the weather was perfect here,” said Maindi, who belongs to the Calenjin tribe in Eldoret, known as the home of the world's marathon champions.
Leading behind his compatriot Henry Kipsang by a minute and six seconds (2:22:19), Maindi recounted that he exerted effort during the first 30km and tried to reserve his energy in the last 10km by maintaining a fair speed.
“That was the time I started moving, the guys could not catch up with my speed,” he said.
Given the chance, Maindi who had been practicing hard in his country hopes to participate again next year in the annual Ooredoo marathon to defend his title.
Evans John Roni, also a Kenyan, came in third with 2:25:07. Other winners are 22 year-old Bernard Korir from Kenya (21km), Tarek Haddadi from Morocco (10km) and Eulalia Perez Rendon (10km female). Some of the categories included adult and child-friendly runs (1km fun run, 3km and 5km categories), junior and veterans. A total of QR1mn worth of prize money was given away at the marathon.
“The weather was perfect here because I prefer to run in this kind of temperature so it did me well. But the first part of the race was a little bit hard,” said Rendon, an amateur runner who just came to Doha a few weeks ago. She also participated in a number of 10km runs in Spain and Dominican Republic.
The Ministry of Youth and Sports has vowed to continue supporting the marathon and similar activities that cater to different age groups in the country.
“Such initiatives will enable our mission to foster a sports culture within the community and encourage individuals to embrace an active and healthy lifestyle,” Minister al-Ali said in a press statement.
Sheikh Abdulla bin Mohamed noted that entry fees will be donated to “Educate A Child’ a programme of Education Above All Foundation launched by HH Sheikha Moza bint Nasser. It aims to help provide quality primary education to 59mn out of school youths.
“We can feel a true community spirit in the air which will hopefully encourage everyone to get more involved in sports in 2016,” he stressed. “The health of the people of Qatar is one of the highest priorities and Ooredoo is delighted to be playing our part.”
Launched in 2013, the highly anticipated event was designed to help and encourage residents in Qatar to live a healthy and active lifestyle.
Besides individual runners, several expatriate groups, companies and communities such as Qatar Sports For All Federation also joined the marathon this year.