The winners of the Qtel Marathon pose for a group picture along with the officials of QTel during the prize giving ceremony, near the Museum of Islamic Art, yesterday. PICTURE BY: ABDUL BASIT
DOHA: Gadissa Chaniada of Ethiopia and Rebecca Botwright of Great Britain stormed to victory in the men’s and women’s sections of the first-ever Qtel Marathon held here yesterday.
Three races took place – a half marathon (21.1km), a 10km race, and 1km fun run for children under 18 – on a beautiful January morning on Doha’s scenic Corniche, starting at the Museum of Islamic Art.
All three races saw strong participation from a wide cross section of the community in Qatar, with men, women and children taking part.
In the fiercely competitive half-marathon, Chaniada clinched the first place, recording a time of one hour, ten minutes and 46 seconds. He was followed by Richard Kanyugi of Kenya, and Tom Whateley of Great Britain.
In the women’s half-marathon, Botwright, Bex Grace of New Zealand, and Fleur Kenward of Canada took first, second and third place, respectively.
More than 300 people competed in the half-marathon, which saw people run the length of the Corniche and back, twice.
Aaron Hollingshead, a US national who teaches cross country running at the American School of Doha, was the first across the line in the 10km race, recording an impressive time of 34 minutes, 40 seconds. He was followed by Lamri Saadaoui, of Algeria, and Nathan Riding of Great Britain. In the women’s race, Katherine Houston of the USA, Beth MacGregor of Great Britain, and Tanja Kozelka of Germany took the top places.
A total of 800 people took part in the 10k run.
In the children’s race, Zaid Al Qatami from Qatar came first in the 15-17 year old category; Hirohito Neves came first in the 12-14 category; Seif Nadhmi Jari came first in the 8-11 category; and Hamad Al Ansari in the under-eights. Nearly 100 children ran the 1k race. Prizes were awarded to the best runners in a range of categories. Around 1,200 took part in the race. Teams from businesses, universities, schools and athletic clubs took part.
THE PENINSULA
