More than 1,000 athletes take part in IronMan 70.3 Muscat championship
Considered one of the world’s toughest athletic challenges, Ironman 70.3 aimed to raise awareness of the Triathlon Sport in Oman
Times News Service
MUSCAT: More than 1,000 athletes participated in the IronMan 70.3 championship in Muscat on Friday.
The race included three stages: swimming for 1.9km, biking for 90km, and finally running for 21.1km with a total distance of 113 kilometres covered by endurance athletes. After the success of the smaller version of the Ironman Race 5150 held in November 2018, the Ironman 70.3 Muscat, Oman started early on Friday morning, with participants from more than 54 countries around the world.
The race is considered one of the world’s toughest athletic challenges. The swimming stage started at 6am from the beach behind the Intercontinental Hotel at Al Qurum.
The cycle race took the participating athletes through a 90kmlong course passing through some of Muscat’s landmarks, including Mutrah Gate, the Mutrah Cornish, Muscat Gate, Al Alam Palace, Bandar Al Rawda bay, and the Royal Opera House Muscat.
The third and final section was a run, which began at Al Qurum Beach corniche and ended at the finish line located inside the Al Qurum Natural Park.
The Ironman 70.3 Muscat, Oman race aimed to raise awareness of the Triathlon Sport across the Sultanate of Oman.
The race has witnessed great support from multiple government and private sector organizations, including the Ministry of Tourism, the Royal Oman Police, the Muscat Municipality, Oman Air, Mwasalat, OMRAN, Intercontinental Hotel, Crown Plaza OCEC Hotel, Badr Al Sama Hospitals, Oman Broadband and Global Rental Cars.
The closing ceremony of the championship took place at Qurum Natural park in Muscat, under the patronage of His Highness Sayyid Kamil bin Fahd bin Mahmoud Al Said, Assistant Secretary-General of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister for the Council of Ministers, in the presence of Sheikh Rashad Bin Ahmed Al Hinai, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Sports Affairs. During the ceremony, the winners of the tournament categories, sponsors and volunteers were honoured.