Ghouz leads Moroccan clean sweep in men’s Open category of 10km NAS Run

Moroccan men made a clean sweep of the podium in the Open category of the Nad Al Sheba Sports Tournament 10km Run on Wednesday night, while Saleh Al Hammadi and Mouza Al Ghafli took the men’s and women’s honour in the Amateur Emirati category.

Anouar El Ghouz, winner of the NAS Run 10km Open category title in 2019, was on cruise control again on Wednesday night, finishing well ahead of his two Moroccan compatriots with a time of 30 minutes and 2.229 seconds. Abdelali Bouazzaoui (30:27.829) was second to cross the line, followed by Brahim Slimani (30:48.095), while the Emirati duo of Mubarak Al Marashda (31:08.193) and Saleh Al Suwaidi (31:57.042) brought up the top five.

The Open Women’s 10km run also witnessed a repeat winner with 2019 champion, Ethiopia’s Betlhem Desalegn Belayneh cruising to the title in 35:24.691, which was more than five minutes quicker than Great Britain’s Stephanie Humphrey (40:40.883), while Frenchwoman Latifa Essarokh finished third in 41:07.854.

In the Amateur Emirati Men’s category, Hammadi clocked 34:51.714 to finish ahead of Rashid Al Blooshi (35:52.620) and Mohsen Hassan Mohammed (36:05.769), while in the Amateur Emirati Women’s race, Ghafli was a comfortable winner in 44:00.286, with Maryam Al Awadhi (48:39.677) and Huda Al Nuaimi (53:44.901) were second and third.

The winners each of the four categories will receive Dhs10,000, while the runners-up will take home Dhs7,000 and the bronze-winners will get Dhs5,000 each. There are prizes for those who finished between 4th to 9th as well, with each of them getting Dhs3,000.

Delighted with his win, Ghouz said the “tough competition” and “humidity” had made it a difficult night for him and everyone else, but “the desire to win the NAS title” saw him overcome all the challenges.

“In the final two kilometres, it got really difficult, but I worked hard on my rhythm and tried to focus on winning the race and nothing else,” he said. “There was great pressure and the competition was tough, but I am happy I could get past every challenge and win this title once again.”

The Tournament kicked off with the NAS Padel Championship on April 14, in which more than 700 local and international players participated to win a total prize purse of Dhs.199,000. Three hundred and sixty men had registered for the Men’s Bronze Category, and 86 men for the Golden Category, while 50 ladies registered for the Women’s Bronze Category.

The qualifying tournament for these three categories, which was held between April 8 and 13, witnessed 206 matches from which 32 pairs each have qualified for the Men’s Bronze Category and Golden Category, while 16 pairs have made it to the main draw of the Women’s Bronze Category.

This year’s NAS Padel Championship also featured an internationally-ranked International Pedal Federation (FIP) Stars tournament as more than 250 of the world’s top professional players with A-Level skills registered for the tournament earlier.

Organised by Dubai Sports Council (DSC), the NAS Sports Tournament has been one of the top sporting attractions during the Holy Month of Ramadan since 2013, and the eighth season of the Tournament was organised in compliance with all COVID-19 precautionary measures and protocols, as well as other guidelines issued by relevant authorities. The organisers conducted free COVID-19 PCR test for all NAS Cycling and NAS Run participants at Al Wasl Club - on April 20-21 for NAS Cycling and April 26-27 for NAS Run – to ensure the safety of everyone involved.

Dubai Duty Free and Tecnotree were the main sponsors of this year’s Nad Al Sheba Sports Tournament, which is one of the biggest events of its kind in terms of participation and prize money.