The marathon was held on Tuesday in which more than 6,000 people participated. There were three categories and the winners from each category were handed prizes by the prince.

He also honored the sponsors of the event. Mobily and Nesma were the main sponsors. Top Gear, MBC, Basmah, Tamar, Go Sport, AIM and IPN also sponsored the event.

Prince Mishal said that the success of marathon was heartening. "It's going to be an international event in the near future," he said.

Mazin Batterjee, president of Al-Bir echoed Prince Mishal. "From next year we want this to be a race on international standards. We will increase the distance from the current 15 km to 42 km over the next three years," he told Arab News.

Mazin was extremely pleased with the success of the marathon saying it was encouraging to see such a high turnover.

The marathon attracted participants from a number of nationalities living and working in Jeddah. Besides Saudi Arabia and Arab countries, the winners included runners from Ethiopia, Eritrea, France, Nigeria and Chad.

There were 15 winners in the 15-km race, nine winners for the second race of 5 km for under-18s.

The third race was for the disabled who were classified in four different categories.