21 Jan First Stage ODM 2024
Race Results:https://my.raceresult.com/274879/results
The Oman Desert Marathon Races had more than 700 participants, 37 of them were part of the challenging 165 km four stage Classic Race, kilometer by kilometer at the beginning of Al Wasil town, the local community demonstrated their hospitality to the international and local visitors. The event was opened by the local authorities in a cheerful atmosphere of energetic athletes and local traditional omani music. The village had not only the presence of the runners of the 165 km four stages kilometer race, This year’s race also included a children’s 2 km run, a 5 km run, and 10 km, which were run on the same day.
There were participants for the 42 km and 21 km race that came all the way from Kazakhstan, Finland and England. These runners were attracted by the races and after their experience in the beautifull sands of Oman they used the opportunity to travel the Sultanate before going back to their countries. The 10 km race proved to be the most popular among the locals and the 5 km family race was also among the favorites. Young children also participated in the 2 km run through the oasis of Bediya, and Oman Special Olympic participated for the first time.
The Spanish runner Pol Makuri who was born with hemiparesis, a cerebral paralysis that affected the development of the right side of his body,arrived at the first checkpoint with lots of enthusiasm and finished the stage successfully in spite of the difficult challenges.
The first stage is always hard for runners while they are acclimatizing to the desert. Although some parts were in sand roads, once the runners passed the 31st kilometer the real challenge started, climbing the tallest dune of approximately 400 meters.
The change in the diversity of landscapes surprised the runners, and while they got deeper into the desert they experienced, medium dunes, steep and very soft, proved to be a challenge for all, even for those that participated in desert races before and thought they were not going to have to give a good effort.
Morocco’s Rashid El Morabity came in first place in the male category of the 1st stage of the 9th edition of Oman Desert
and Aziza Raji came in first place in the women’s side of the first stage, with a finishing time of 5:22:35. After The last runner Christelle Simmenauer, from France arrived after 10:59:25 the first stage finished with all runners arriving in Good condition and getting ready for a new beginning at the following stage.
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