Community race at UNESCO’s world heritage site draws over 400 runners

The Abu Dhabi Sports Council’s (ADSC) community races for the first time since the outbreak of the pandemic, with over 400 runners at the Garden City participating over the weekend.
The races were staged under the highest safety and precautionary protocols and the runners treated to a spectacular route of the UNESCO’s world heritage site and shaded corridors of hundreds of palm trees.
The Moroccan runners dominated the men’s main two races. Abdelali Bouazzaoui and Noaman Elassaoui filled the top two spots in the 10-kilometre run followed by Somali Mohammed Othman Guled.
The 5km run produced a similar result with the Moroccans Ismail El Kharchi and Adil El Hanyfy occupying the first two places and Emirati Mohammed Al Hassani taking the third spot.
In the women’s 10km run, Briton Clare Farell finished ahead of Thai Pomsiri Chhour and Andrea Farla from Britain.
Russian Diana Zakharchenko won the women’s 5km race from Emirati Mouza Al Gafli and Leanne Wood from Ireland.
Emirati Saif Al Alawi took the men’s 2.5km race; Mohammed Taha Ismail from India took the U17 and Dominic Jordan from Hungary the U14 prizes.
Brazilian Bianca Campion took the women’s 2.5km run while Indian Sanna Sayied and Jasmine Pitman won the U17 and U14 runs respectively.
Suhail Abdullah Al Arifi, ADSC’s Acting Executive Director of the Events Sector, pointed out the sheer numbers as evidence of the interaction between the sports council and the community.
“We are overjoyed by the numbers we received and the success of the event held under the highest safety standards and precautionary measures,” he said.
Al Arifi thanked the Department of Culture and Tourism Abu Dhabi and Al Ain Oasis for hosting the race and acknowledged the support from Al Ain Water, National Ambulance, Department of Transport, Abu Dhabi Police, and the team of volunteers.