Running for Pleasure in Casablanca (© MAP Sport)
CasablancaSome 10,000 women between the ages of 15 and 75, coming from every branch of society and a group of elite women runners will meet on Sunday, 11 May, to run through the most attractive streets of the economic capital of Morocco.
This fifth edition of ‘Run for Fun', which continues to attract ever more popular support will feature a galaxy of international star athletes contesting a place on the podium.
Among the many well known runners entered for the race, which will be started by IAAF President Lamine Diack – who will be visiting Casablanca from 7-11 May - on Sunday, are Morocco’s Zhor El Kamch, who won the last edition, the Kenyans Tegla Loroupe, Joyce Chepchumba and Mary Ptikany, Spain’s Laura Pinela and Beatrice Roz, Alesandra Colautti from Italy and Portugal’s Analia Rosa.
The organisers, who gave a press conference in Casablanca last Friday evening to present this annual event that continues to symbolise the growing attraction of sport for women, also expect the participation of a number of other athletes from countries as far afield as Senegal, Estonia, Belgium, France, Tunisia and Algeria.
Former Olympic champion Nawal El Moutawakel, the president of the Moroccan Sport and Development Agency, the organiser of this event, declared her satisfaction at the presence of President Diack: “His presence here is an invaluable display of support and something that we are very proud of,” she said.
For Nawal, a pioneer and militant in the cause of women’s sport, this race is an event that will enable her to make a dream that is particularly close to her heart come true: “to promote sport among women of all ages, whatever their origin.”
“My greatest satisfaction is to see these mothers and daughters, grandmothers and mothers-in-law running side by side and to see women in their sixties and seventies and even older finishing the course with a huge smile on their faces in the biggest sports event organised for women in the Arab-Muslim world and, indeed, throughout Africa,” says El Moutawakel, who is also a member of the IAAF Council.
The massive participation of Moroccan women of all ages in this event, makes a great contribution to their continuing emancipation. As both the IAAF and IOC continue to declare the right to practice sport applies equally to men and women.
In the words of former Olympic champion Hassiba Boulmerka from Algeria, “This initiative is totally in accord with the policies of the IOC which is absolutely committed to encouraging women to take part in sporting competitions. All honour to Morocco, which is a pioneer of women’s emancipation in Africa.”