18th Official Asian Games Fun Run in Oman 19-08-2005

Over three thousand people sprinted to the finish line outside the Municipality Amphitheatre in Salalah, Oman on Friday 19th August as part of the Official Asian Games Fun Run which celebrated sport in Asia and highlighted the 15th Asian Games Doha 2006.

The fun run took place to coincide with the first week of the annual Khareef Festival in the southern Oman city of Salalah which attracted over 209,000 people last year.

Organised by the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) and the Oman National Olympic Committee (ONOC), the fun run was open to all ages encouraging lots of people to take part.  

Ahmed bin Ali al Amri, Chairman of Dhofar Municipality, triggered the starter’s gun to mark the beginning of the fun run at 4.30pm. The Fun Run ran along the green plains of the Sahl Ateen before finishing outside the Amphitheatre in the Municipality Entertainment Centre.

Each entrant that took part was rewarded with a certificate of achievement and a limited edition 15th Asian Games sports bag, waist bag, t-shirt and cap from the OCA.   There was also a draw at the end of the fun which gave 30 lucky winners great prizes to take home.

The fun run attracted wide-spread press attention on the actual day of the event as well as in the lead up to it.   Nationwide radio stations, Oman English FM and the Arabic Youth FM conducted live interviews before the event and also reported after the event.  Oman TV covered the event and it was aired on the 1030pm news the same day and on selected sports programmes the following day.  The daily newspapers were also behind the event with coverage in both the English and Arabic papers the following day.