Last Friday marked the final warmup race for the Riyadh Road Runners in their season long build up to the annual Riyadh marathon.

The race distance was 30km, however, given the 6-lap nature of the event, it was possible to run anything from 5 to 30km. Once Riyadh’s half marathon champion, Hamad Ozaybi, was spotted at the venue minutes before the start, the rest of the field were resigned to competing for second place, as Ozaybi dominated once more and comfortably earned his second victory of the season.

Ozaybi, who hails from Jizan, started gently by his own standards, and Adolfo Tejada managed to run alongside him during the early stages. However, Ozaybi’s ability to run kilometer after kilometer at 4:00 pace saw him drop Tejada, who was suffering from an Achilles complaint, at the 7.5km mark.

Ozaybi was through the half way point in an hour flat, and he maintained his relentless pace for another 10km, only slowing down over the last 5km when the race was already won. He crossed the line in 2:05:36, seeming to have barely broken sweat and setting a RRR course record in the process. Tejada battled bravely to the end, finishing in a highly impressive time of 2:08:11, and he was followed home by two Frenchmen – Sylvain Girardeau, whose form has improved steadily throughout the season, and Jean Pierre Berthiaux, returning from the wilds of Ubayr and Laban to claim fourth place overall and first place in the Master category.

The women’s race only saw three finishers, as many participants dropped out at the 15km or 20km marks in order to ensure their freshness for the marathon next week. Claudine Roghi won once more to make it a hat trick of victories for the season, finishing in a time of 2:36:14 and beating much of the men’s field in the process. Kerstin Kick came home a mere two minutes behind, with Katerina Holeckova running a very steady race to finish in third, just under the three hour mark.

The club now moves on to the marathon, the climax of the running season in which the city’s best long distance runners will show their worth.

(Male race: 1. Hamad Ozaybi (KSA) 2:05:36, 2. Adolfo Tejada (Sp) 2:08:11, 3. Sylvain Girardeau (Fra) 2:16:09)

(Female race: 1. Claudine Roghi (NZ) 2:36:14, 2. Kerstin Kick (Ger) 2:38:30, 3. Katerina Holeckova 2:58:38)