The Ras Al Khaimah Half Marathon

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As recently published in the April 1, 2019 edition of Footprints - The Newsletter of the Howard County Striders

submitted by Larry Stern, Strider UAE Chief Correspondent

Ras Al Khaimah (RAK) is the northern most emirates in the UAE. Each winter in the month of February, runners from all around gather for its annual half marathon. This year, over 2500 runners toed the line in what is touted as “the fastest half marathon in the world”. I was one of these runners taking on a course that from an aerial view appears to be right out of the 90s adventure puzzle computer game of Myst. Run on Al Marjan Island in RAK, this series of 4 connected man-made islands extends 4.5 kilometers (Everything is metric in this country and it’s hard to get used to) into the Arabian Sea (or Persian Gulf to some) and covers 4.5 million square meters (that’s a lot).

This year’s race had fabulous weather for this area pushing the mercury to 56 degrees at the gun. A vast group of elite women started the race at 6:45am with the elite men starting at 7:00am along with the mass start of everyone else. A group of 4 Ethiopian ladies finished first with the top finisher, Senbere Teferi, crossing with a time of 1:05:45 tying the #10 fastest in the world (1:04:51). Not long after, the men’s top finisher, Stephen Kiprop of Kenya, crossed the finish with a time of 58:42 which beat Ethiopia’s Abadi Hadis by 2 seconds. Kiprop’s time tied him for the 6^th fastest finish in the world (58:18).

I was not as speedy as these top finishers having just come back from injury and not getting in a long run over 10 miles for three weeks. That said, and taking into account the lack of conditioning and training, I held my own and ran a good 10 miles before the tank ran out of gas finishing with at time of 2:25:17. Obviously, not my best, but not my worst finish either.

Support along the course was pretty good and was located about every 2.5km. Bottled water is what everyone drinks in the UAE so each runner was handed a small bottle as they came through the water stop. Each kilometer was marked which means 21 in all. Mentally, this messes with my head so I keep my watch on miles because 13.1 miles is much easier to run than 21.1km.

After running my second half marathon in the UAE, I find that these races are very well organized. Bib numbers are assigned upon signing up for the race and race pictures are sent to you minutes after you cross the finish line. Not only that, but you don’t have to pay to download the pictures so there isn’t a large logo superimposed across your face. This race had your packet shipped to you via UPS that included a race shirt along with your bib. Once you finished, you were handed a medal that weighed about 5 lbs and a “finishers bag” which included a nice towel (the second race I received a towel) and a race branded coffee cup.

The racing season here will soon be wrapping up as, come April, the temperatures will begin to rise along with the humidity. It is not unheard of for the temperatures to top out around 110-120 degrees. Even early morning temperatures will be uncomfortable with the humidity but at least the sun won’t be beating down on you. Here is to hoping I will survive the UAE summer.

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Comments

[Jess]

Those are some awesome premiums. Send me some! Thanks for the race report :)