The all-male 15 kilometers race, which takes place on March 9 at 3 p.m., will feature up to 5,000 participants who will run from Jeddah Corniche to Roshan.

“Our aim for this marathon is to encourage charity work through a sporting activity. This race started from humble beginnings and to see it in its seventh year is testament to how far it has come,” said Saleh Al-Turki, president of Nesma Holding Group, which is sponsoring the event.

“Hopefully we will be able to encourage students and teachers to participate in social work in communities and cities.” The organizing committee’s chairman Abdullah Bakhashab said as many as 10,000 people used to register for the event. “Sometimes we were faced with situations where many of the registered people did not show up to the marathon or failed to make it to the finishing line, so we decided to limit the number,” he said.

“We would like to honor Nesma’s sponsorship of the marathon, so we have dedicated a track for under 18s in the company’s name. This age group usually has the largest number of participants. They will experience a number of surprises from Nesma along the way.”

The marathon will include participants from different cities including Makkah, Madinah, Taif and Yanbu.

Telecommunications company Mobily will sponsor professional runners from outside the country who take part.

Anyone wanting to register can apply through the website www.jeddah-marathon.com