JEDDAH, 25 December 2006 — Saudi runner Imad Nour won the gold medal in the 18th GCC Cross-Country race in Dubai. Nour covered the 5-kilometer distance in 16.35 minutes to beat Oman’s Mohammad Al-Yagoub who settled for second place in 16.38. Third place went to Qatar’s Musaab Ballah in 16.39.
“The victory of Imad though he has joined the national team for only a year truly shows his talent,” said Dr. Mahjoub Saeed, supervisor at the technical committee of the Saudi Athletics Federation.
Imad’s feat in Dubai comes on the heels of a glorious campaign by the Saudi national athletics team in the recent Asian Games in Doha where they won five gold and two bronze medals.
The 16-year old Nour went to training camp in Abha in preparation for this event. Abha, according to Dr. Saeed, is an excellent place for an athlete to train especially because of its high altitude. The advantage of high altitude training is that it makes racing on lower altitude easier though they will have difficulty breathing,” he said.
Nour had his first international competition last summer at the Arabian Championship in Cairo, Egypt.
The competition categories are under 17, under 20 and above 20. Saudi Arabia entered only in the under 17 category and missed out on the rest of the categories due to a conflict in the examinations schedule of the athletes and most of the runners were just back from the Asian Games competition.
Saeed said that Saudi Arabia had already made great records in short distance races, and by this victory “we are looking forward to balance our victories and achievements in both short and long distance races.” All the GCC countries except Bahrain and Kuwait saw action in the championship.
