Dubai: A top official of the Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon is buoyant by the surfeit of elite runners taking part in the event on Friday.
Speaking to Gulf News, Ahmad Al Kamali, general coordinator of the marathon and president of UAE Athletics Federation said: “The special aspect of this year’s Dubai Marathon is the participation of 100 elite athletes. We have marathon champions who have won in cities such as Boston, New York, Paris, Los Angeles, Rotterdam, Amsterdam, Houston, Beijing, Frankfurt, Tokyo, Prague and Dubai. We have always strived to improve the competition and we are delighted that many top runners now opt to run here.”
Kamali also revealed that many top administrators have flown in to watch the marathon. “We have presidents of 12 athletics federations from different parts of the world here now. They are keen to see what is it that Dubai has provided to the runners and made it attractive. I have told everyone that we have a flat course and it is a very good course for the middle level runners. So for someone who is running at 2.14, will be able to run 2:11 or 2:12 here as the course is very flat.”
Kamali revealed the course will remain fast despite minor alterations. “We have made only small changes to the course and it is even better than before as the bends are not very sharp. We have a very good field in the men’s section, though we do not know what will be the weather at the last minute. It will be a fast run. We have a plan of achieving 1 hour one minute and 30 seconds at the half way mark with five pacemakers leading the way,” he said.
“If we can go under-4 (Dubai course record is 2:04:23) then we can say we are almost there, though we have made the world notice that we are among the fastest marathons in the world today,” said Kamali.
