Gaza Marathon
| Gaza Marathon | |
|---|---|
| Date | May |
| Location | Gaza Strip |
| Event type | Road |
| Distance | Marathon |
| Established | 2011 |
| Course records | Men: 2:42:47 (2011) Nader al-Masri Women: 4:45:00 (2011) Gemma Connell |
| Official site | The UNRWA Gaza Marathon 2011 |
The first ever Gaza marathon, sponsored by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), was held on May 5th, 2011. The race’s course spans the entire Gaza Strip, from Beit Hanoun near the order with Israel in the north-east to Rafah, near the Egyptian border in the south.
About fifty runners started the course, with just nine runners completing in the full distance. Of these, seven were Palestinian athletes training for next year's Olympics.[1] Six more ran the half marathon, and 150 runners from the Gaza Athletics Federation joined for the last stretch of eight kilometers.[2] The winner, with a time of 2:42:47, was Nader al-Masri, who competed in the 2008 Beijing Olympics in the 5,000-meter race, placing 38th and not advancing. There were two international participants, both of them UNRWA employees running a marathon for the first time. One of them, Gemma Connel, was the only woman who ran the entire race, and finished with a time of 4 hours and forty-five minutes.[3]
UNRWA sponsors the event as a fund-raiser for its Summer Games for Gaza school children. The goal was to raise one million US dollars for the Summer Games, and UNRWA has said the goal was exceeded. [4]