It was another stroll in the park for Mehemda, who easily beat the rest of the field in the Carrefour sponsored 12 km race in north Jeddah recently, the 5th event in the Jeddah Road Runners season.

Well over 90 runners participated in the event which was split into two laps, allowing those that wanted to run a 6 km option, while the hardier souls completed the longer distance.

Mehemda set off at a fast and furious pace, which none of the others was able to match, and he ran out a very comfortable winner by over eight minutes from last year’s club champion, Bakhraiba. New visitor, De Lieven, finished in third, a few minutes further back. O’Shea narrowly missed out on the sixty minute mark by a few seconds. Other newcomers this season in the open category, Ester, Polido and Rasheed also ran well.

In the veterans category, Hawsawi, showed his more experienced rivals, Al-Subhi and Albert, a clean pair of heels. Francks is on the verge of catching Bucher in future events, as he has been steadily improving his times and training more efficiently, and finished in fifth category position. Zeibnan has the masters category sown up already at this stage of the season, and finished in seventh position overall, losing out by the narrowest of margins for sixth to Yamani, who is 20 years his junior.

Zebedee was the only senior in the longer distance; and having just recently completed the Great South Ten Mile (sixteen kms) run in England with approximately 25,000 competitors in very cold temperatures and conditions, welcomed the return to a warmer climate. There were no close finishes in the ladies event, with Queck well ahead of visitor, Berchers. Queck’s running training partner, Davis, was third.

Pamisaran and Pobar brought up the rear, to a well-earned round of applause from the group. Thirty-nine runners completed one lap, with Al Kaff being first home in a respectable 25 minutes.

On behalf of the club, Deputy Chairman Al-Juffri thanked the sponsors, Carrefour, whose representatives, Judilasen and Contrino, were on hand to distribute the prizes at the post-race breakfast, and to the other Club Committee members Doman, Yamani, and Mohagab for their assistance in organizing the event.

Results:

Overall winner: Mehemda (43.14)

Open category: 1st Bakhraiba (51.45); 2nd Alahdal (52.28); 3rd De Lieven (54.52)

Veteran category: 1st Hawsawi (57.09); 2nd AlSubhi (61.31); 3rd Albert (62.30)

Masters category: 1st Zeibnan (57.15); 2nd Weindorf (65.33); 3rd Olofsson (75.24)

Seniors: 1st Zebedee (100.41)

Ladies: 1st Queck (64.46); 2nd Berchers (69.57); Davis (72.45)