Udo Yahya and Lilia Charvolina emerged winners of the men and women 10-kilometre (Open Category) Yas Mall Community indoor races on Saturday.
The Nigerian Yahya clocked 35 minutes 38 seconds while the Russian Charvolina completed the distance in 47.09 in as they ran the 10km open category and Claire Husson-Citanna won the overall ranking of the 10km with a time of 45.38 of the race organised by the Abu Dhabi Sports Council (ADSC) under the auspices of ADNOC Abu Dhabi Marathon
The popular races series held under the banner of ‘Fit in Abu Dhabi’ drew 433 participants, including 116 Emiratis, in the three distances run over 10km, 5km and 2.5km and was held under the strict Covid-19 safety and precautionary measures.
Kazakh Stanislav Buyukov won the men’s 2.5km race in a time of 9.45 and Emirati Azza Al Ghunaimi took the women’s event in 12.31. Yousef Rushdie (17.40) bagged the men’s 5km run and American Anslima Allingwood (20.26) the women’s equivalent.
His Excellency Talal Al Hashemi, ADSC’s Executive Director of the Sports Development Sector, said the sports council was keen to provide more of such sporting events to bring the community together and promote a healthy lifestyle.
“The country is beginning to open up from the outbreak of the Covid-19 and we plan to organise more community sports under strict safety measures as recommended by our health authorities,” he said.
“The Yas Mall indoor run was the third and last of the ADSC Sports Festival to be held after the pandemic but plans are already underway to organise more such events in the coming months, if not weeks.
“We understand there is a big demand for community events and we surely want to bring the communities together and for them to enjoy and participate in healthy competitions.”
Al Hashemi extended his appreciation to the sponsors ADNOC Abu Dhabi Marathon, Yas Island represented by the Yas Mall administration, Al Ain Water, National Ambulance, and the volunteers from the Fazaa team for their contributions to the organisation of the event.
