Oman Desert Marathon 2023 ready to kick off

Oman Friday 20/January/2023 16:49 PM
By: Times News Service
Oman Desert Marathon 2023 ready to kick off
Supplied image

Muscat: The Oman Desert Marathon 2023 will be held in the Wilayat of Bidiyah, North Al Sharqiyah Governorate for four days starting Saturday, January 21, 2023. 

The Wilayat of Bidiyah in the Al Sharqiyah North Governorate will host on Saturday the “Oman Desert Marathon 2023” in its eighth edition, which will be held from January 21 -24,2023 

The race will be attended by more than 200 professional marathon athletes from around the world, in addition to the participants from the Sultanate of Oman. The race is held over a distance of 165 kilometers divided into four stages, the first stage is for a distance of 47 km, the second stage is for 55 km, the third stage is for 42 km, and the fourth and final stage is for 21 km.

The new edition of the race this year, which starts from Al-Wasel Oasis in Bidiyah, includes three tracks for short distances. The first track is dedicated to children for a distance of 2 km, the second track for 5 km, and the third track dedicated to beginners and families for a distance of 5 km.

 The Oman Desert Marathon, whose first edition was held in 2013, is one of the international races that the Sultanate of Oman hosts annually, as the sports sector in general and adventure sports in particular are among the fastest growing tourism sectors, which in turn contributes to expanding and strengthening the base of the Omani economy in line with the future vision of the Sultanate of Oman.

The race this year has a new look after it was approved by the International Trail Running Association (ITRA), which awarded the current edition 3 points for the marathon represented in the mountain point, and a confirmation of a distance of 164.40 km, with a horizontal height of 1,570 meters.