Olympic medallist, Mutaz Barshim of Qatar poses for a picture with the podium winners at the Qatar’s first ever obstacle course race – ‘Esrar’ held yesterday at Aspire Zone.
Fahad Al Sahli from Saudi Arabia clinched the first place in the Qatar’s first ever obstacle course race – ‘Esrar’ held yesterday at Aspire Zone.
Al Sahli completed the race in 19 minutes and 17 seconds, and Kuwaiti participant Jassem Alostath, finished the race in 21 minutes and 09 seconds. Qatari participant Khamis Waleed finished in third place with a recorded time of 21 mins and 30 seconds.
In the women’s category, British contestant Leigh Osborne won first place after finishing the race in 25 minutes. She was followed in second place by Romanian contestant, Nicoleta Hodorogea, who finished just three seconds behind. Qatari contestant Reem Al-Muftah came in third after finishing the race in 28 minutes and 46 seconds.
The event attracted sporting enthusiasts from across the region who travelled to Doha to take part in the race.
Aspire Zone Foundation (AZF) and ‘Diverse’, a newly established Qatari business that specialises in sports events management, successfully organised the race – ‘Esrar’ (which means determination in Arabic).
The event involved more than 250 local and regional participants, from Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Bahrain and Kuwait, who pushed themselves to the limits in overcoming a range of specially designed obstacles.
Winners were awarded in the presence of senior members from the organising committee, including Nasser Abdullah Al Hajri, Director of PR and Communication at AZF, . Abdullah Al Khater, Manager of Events at Aspire Zone Foundation, Al Anoud Al Misnad, a senior organising member from AZF, and Khaled Saadoun Al Kuwari, CEO of ‘Diverse’.
A number of well-known sporting figures also took part including Olympic medallist, Mutaz Barshim as well as prominent local media personalities such as Mohammed Saadoun Al Kuwari from BeIN Sports, Ali Al Meslemani from Aljazeera, and Sabah Al Kuwari from Al Rayyan TV.
Commenting on the event, Nasser Abdullah Al Hajri, Director of PR and Communication at AZF, said: “We launched a new sport in Qatar. Even though this is the first event of its kind, the turnout from participants has been very encouraging. We’re especially thrilled to see that participants from across the region travelled to Qatar to take part, including from Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.
"AZF is always keen to find new activities to engage all members of the community, no matter what their age. This is a key part of our mission to promote a sports culture and encourage active, healthy lifestyles in Qatar. Our partnership with Diverse has been very successful and reflects our commitment to supporting young Qatari entrepreneurs. I’m sure we’ll find many more opportunities for further collaboration with them as well as with other local entrepreneurs who have unique and innovative ideas to offer.”
Commenting on his victory, Al Sahli said: “This race is relatively new to the Middle East. It was quite challenging because an obstacle course is a full-body work out and tests very specific sets of skills for activities like wall climbing, the commando crawl and monkey bar. My hope is that we’ll see more events like this in the region, and greater numbers of local and regional sports enthusiasts taking part.”
Speaking about her participation in the race, Qatari participant, Reem Al Muftah said: “The standard of competition was very high, and the obstacles were really challenging, particularly the monkey bar. I’m very proud to have achieved third place. It was a really fun event and I encourage more people, and particularly women, to participate next year. I’m very impressed with Aspire Zone Foundation for introducing this new sport to Qatar. The level of organisation involved in this competition was great, and I hope to participate in more of AZF’s events in the future.”
