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EDITOR IN CHIEF- ABDULLAH BIN SALIM AL SHUEILI

'Ironman 70.3 race shows Oman ideal host for sports events'

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Muscat: Under the auspices of His Highness Said Kamil bin Fahad al Said, Assistant Secretary-General for the Cabinet of the Deputy Prime Minister for the Council of Ministers, the Ironman Oman concluded its first edition with more than 1,000 participants representing more than 54 countries around the world.


The race which is considered one of the world’s toughest athletic challenges included three stages, swimming, biking & running forming a race that is 113 kmlong. The race’s swimming started at 6:30 am from the beach behind the Intercontinental Hotel at Al Qurum Beach which consisted of a 1.9km long swimming course followed by 90km long biking course and a 21.1km running course which took the athletes through some of Muscat’s most famous landmarks.


French athlete Antoine Mechin landed the first place making him the first Ironman ever to cross the Ironman 70.3 Muscat’s finish-line with a timing of three hours and fifty-six minutes followed by Russian athlete Pavel Gorik which crossed the finish line in four hours and fourteen minutes, and in third place came Swiss athlete Rafael Wyss with a timing of four hours and sixteen minutes. In the women’s category, Italian athlete Michela Santini crossed the finish line first with a timing of four hours and twenty-eight minutes followed by six times world champion swiss athlete Natascha Badmann with the timing of four hours and thirty-nine minutes. And in third place came Italian athlete Giulia Bedorin with the timing of four hours and forty-one minutes.


In the national category, Omani athlete Issam al Busaidi scored first place with his timing of five hours and seven minutes followed by Majid Al Sharji with the timing of five hours and nineteen minutes and in third place came Mishal Said with the timing of five hours and twenty-three minutes.  And in the GCC category, Emirati athlete Abdullah Al Laqiti came first with a timing of four hours and forty-eight minutes followed by Omani athlete Issam Al Busaidi (first in Omani category) followed by Emirati athlete Abdulrahman Al Hosni with the timing of five hours and ten minutes. And in the GCC women’s category, in first and second place came Bahraini athletes May Al Haji and Rana Al Alawi with their timings of five hours and thirty-eight minutes for May and five hours and fifty-eight minutes for Rana followed by Saudi athlete Diana Al Tayeb with the timing of six hours and fourteen minutes.


The Ironman 70.3 Muscat, Oman race aims at raising awareness of the Triathlon Sport across the Sultanate of Oman and to serve the organizing company’s - TriMe Middle East – vision of adding Oman on the global map as an international sporting events destination.


“We’re prepared on all levels to host this international event, and we know that we’re capable of not only delivering a well-organized race, but of making Oman one of the best locations on the global map to host an international sporting event of this scale


“With the successful organization of this race, we’ve proven to the world that Oman is more than capable of hosting similar large, international sporting tournaments and events. And at the closure of this race we would like to thank all those who believed in the Omani youth’s capabilities of organizing such events in the Sultanate and on top of that list is the Ministry of Tourism and to confirm that this race is only the beginning to many more to come” Stated Abdul Aziz Al Obidani – Ironman 70.3 Muscat, Oman Director.


 


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