JEDDAH, 26 April — Thirty runners welcomed a very pleasant March morning to take part in the last race of the Jeddah Road Runners season. With league points at stake for end-of-season honors, a few close battles were expected in the one-mile race sponsored by McDonald’s. Conditions were perfect for the early morning start, and the runners could look forward to a well-earned rest for a few months now that the season was almost at an end.

At the opening bell, visitors Jawal (Eritrea), Zein (Eritrea), Ali (Eritrea), and Leavitt (US) soon established a sizable lead over the rest of the group. Jawal, the winner of the club’s 5 kms in January, showed his class and at the half-way mark turned on the style and literally flew round the second half, winning by a comfortable margin of 10 seconds from frequent visitor Leavitt, who showed the younger members of the race and the club members a clean pair of heels, turning in a fine performance finishing second in 5.20. Zein and Ali were the next finishers, followed by club members Doman (Tanzania) and Thomson (Canada), Doman winning out this time and taking top veterans spot in the overall league tables for the end-of-season.

Mediavillo (Philippines) again finished top masters, but it was a close battle for second masters between Hongto (Philippines) and Fryer (Canada), with the former narrowly winning this encounter. A few juniors participated, and S. Gibson (England) just piped C. Law (England) for top junior.

Daryl was on hand from the sponsors, in this the 5th event to be held under the McDonald’s banner, and the club expressed their appreciation at the post-race breakfast for the support from McDonald’s for the running community in the western region.

Results:

Overall Winner: Mohammed Jawal. Open, 1st: Mohammed Zein; 2nd: Ali; 3rd: Mustafa. Veterans: 1st: Jim Leavitt; 2nd: Wahid Doman; 3rd: Randy Thomson.

Masters: 1st: Harry Mediavillo; 2nd: Smarn Hongto; 3rd: Chris Fryer.

A. Category: Ist: O. Kelly (Ireland)

Bernabdie strides to victory in Mobil 10km

A sizable French contingent swelled the numbers participating in the annual Mobil 10km race in the Jeddah Road Runners season recently. The penultimate race in the calendar attracted nearly more visitors than there were members, and overall, the newcomers gave a good account of themselves, showing that they will be a force to reckon with in future seasons. Committee member, Huw Lewis, fired the starting bell, and the 30 runners set off on the first of the two laps in good conditions and temperatures that were pleasantly cool at the early morning start time.

In the absence of any serious competition, Bernabdie (the winner of the Jeddah half-marathon at the beginning of February), strode ahead, and soon established a lead that was never threatened, despite the early attentions of another newcomer, Gary Williams, and these two finished in that order. The main battle for end-of-season points in the veterans category in the club league were between the Tanzanian, Wahid Doman (a club member for many years) and new member, Randy Thomson from Canada. The latter prevailed over Doman in this race, thereby gaining an additional point in the league.

Harry Mediavillo once again won the masters class, with Chris Fryer not far behind, and with club favorite, Dave Zebedee, coming in a well-deserved third.

There also promises to be a close finish in the league to the A category, with J. Trotter and T. Kinnunen neck-and-neck going down to the wire. Trotter ran well in this event, benefiting from the cross-training for the forthcoming triathlon events outside the country. Visitors Levaellint and R. Blonk completed the finishers in this category.

The club as usual thanked the representatives of Mobil-Apsco at the post-race awards breakfast for their continuing support to the running community in Jeddah and looked forward to continuing support in future seasons.

Overall Winner: Bernabdie

Open Category: Ist: Williams; 2nd: Bahatan; 3rd: Ba Gafar. Veterans: 1st: Thomson; 2nd: Doman; 3rd: Sanquer. Masters: 1st: Mediavillo; 2nd: Fryer; 3rd: Zebedee.

A Category: lst Trotter; 2nd: Leavaellint; 3rd: Blonk.