Around 30,000 women ran for the fun of it in the 10km Casablanca race, the ninth of its kind, in the Moroccan capital on Sunday, Inas Mazhar reports It was a cool morning as the participants from all over the world took their marks at 9am. When the 'go' signal was given, the women from all age categories, from 15 to 75, yelled and waved to the crowds who lined up the entire route of the course. All the participants were running for fun. The entrants were not only Moroccans but came from 27 countries from six continents. Some ran, some walked and others jogged, either for fun, or seriously. Though all the women ran together, the race was divided into three categories: girls up to 17 years old, from 18 to 40 and over 40. Morocco's Zhor Al-Kmach won first place, clocking 31' 56 minutes to win her sixth consecutive title. Al-Kmach, a member of the Moroccan athletics team, received prize money worth Dhs40,000, (approximately $3,500). The Moroccan also holds the event's record at 31' 36 seconds which she set in 2003. The winner was proud of her latest title. "I'm really glad I defended my title for the sixth year in a row. I've been taking part in the race since the third edition and I would like to continue competing as long as I can and of course win it as well," Al-Kamch said. Second place went to Pauline Wangui from Kenya who clocked 32' 09. She collected Dhs25,000 (approximately $2,500). Third place went to Magdaline Symbua Mukunzi, also from Kenya, in a time of 32' 17 minutes. She received a Dhs10,000 cheque (approximately $1,400). It was the first time for the Kenyans to take part in the Moroccan race. Their results were the best in their career so far. Runner-up Wangui said she had been looking forward to winning the event and fought hard to catch up with Al-Kamch. "But she was very tough and more experienced. I couldn't catch her. She was very fast. "It's a good result for me. I am happy, and next time, I'll be better prepared to finish first ahead of the Moroccan," Wangui said. Fourth place went to Ethiopia's Azalech Masreshe and fifth to Algeria's Ait Salem Souad. Sixth went to another Ethiopian, Eyrusalem Kuma, and seventh to Kenya's Jane Njeri Kanagara. Morocco's Belfakir Malika was eighth while Azaidi Nasria from Algeria finished ninth. Tenth place went to Cameroon's Ngono Etoundi Therese who had won her country's first marathon in Yaounde last month. Therese said she was lucky she finished 10th because she wasn't feeling well after catching a cold. "It was cool during the race but that wasn't the reason. The past two days and since my arrival, I have been suffering from the air conditioning in my room. It's very hot in my country and I am not used to AC's so it made me sick on the morning of the race," she said. The winners from third to sixth place received Dhs5,000, 4,000 and 2,000 in prize money. President of the Moroccan Association for Sport and Development Nawal Al-Moutawakel was happy with the organisation and the huge number of participants. "When I look back, when we started in 1998 and compare it to this year, I laugh. Nine years ago, there were only 1,000 participants and we had almost no funds. But after the success of the first edition, we began to attract sponsors, and as the race continued to be held every year and famous sports celebrities joined us, more sponsors were attracted to the race which has become a very well organised and prestigious event." Al-Moutawakel, the first African and Arab woman to win a gold medal at an Olympic Games, for the 400 metre hurdles in Los Angeles in 1984, was stunned to see her 70-year-old mother and aunts running in Morocco. "I was shocked. They hadn't told me they were coming. And they were running, not walking. But I was happy for them because they enjoyed it and so did everyone else, and that was our slogan, to run for fun. Besides Al-Moutawakel, other Olympic champions attended the race including decathlon Olympic champion Dailey Thompson and Germany's high jump Olympic champion Haike Deishler. Only two Egyptian women took part in the race. Rehab Mohamed Ahmed, a student at the Faculty of Physical Education in Cairo, came as a representative of the Egyptian Athletics Federation. Iman Bebaras participated for the fun. Bebaras, chairwoman of several Egyptian women's rights organisations in Cairo, walked the entire 10kms course. Despite being seeded among the top runners in the race, Ahmed finished 17th. "It was the first time for me to run the 10kms. I'm used to the 5km. I tried but without the experience I couldn't make it among the top 10," she said. Board member of the Egyptian Athletics Federation Salwa Assal accompanied Ahmed in Casablanca. "We were supposed to take part with two athletes. The other was a 10km runner but she fell ill just before we left, so Rehab was our only participant," Assal explained. "However, I believe it was still a good result since she was running in the event for the first time and with runners from European countries, it is a good achievement," Assal added.
