ASPIRE student athletes this week enjoyed success on the international stage at the Singapore Johor Link Bridge 10 Kilometre Run, competing against 10,000 elite and recreational runners.
The bi-annual event, the biggest road race in the country, uses as its track the famous Link Bridge which joins Singapore to Malaysia. The race, which was run this year in temperatures of over 30 degrees and in high humidity, is designed to foster relations and tourism between the two countries.
ASPIRE’s Mohammed Salleh took first prize in the boys event with an impressive time of 33.38 minutes, quickly followed by the rest of the ASPIRE team, sealing an excellent all round performance which saw all of the boys record a top 15 finish in the Under-18 age group.
The race provided the ASPIRE athletes with further international experience of competition in different climates and was just one highlight of a month long training camp hosted by the Singapore Sports School, an enviable sports and education facility with strong and long established ties with the Doha Academy.
In addition to the elite race, the event attracts large numbers of fun runners, eager to face the challenge of a 10 kilometre run, while at the same time raising important funds for local charities.
Boys race winner, Mohammed Salleh, said: “I was very happy to win the race, but happier with my time. The weather was very nice for me; when I train in Qatar it is warmer. To race in Singapore was a very nice experience.
“I really want to thank my coach for preparing me for the race,” he added. “He works very hard to make sure we are not only physically fit but also have the right motivation.”
ASPIRE athletics coach Jamal Abdi Hassan, said: “The boys worked very hard in their preparation for the run and were ready to compete to the best of their abilities. The ASPIRE team all performed well and I am very proud of their achievement.”
Picture captions: 1) Smiles ahead - Mohammed Salleh proudly shows off his winners trophy; 2) The end of the road – ASPIRE’s athletes recover after a fine team performance
About ASPIRE
ASPIRE, the Academy for Sports Excellence, Doha, was created with the dual aims of identifying and transforming promising student athletes into world renowned champions across a wide range of sports and to act as a beacon to draw sporting culture into the centre of life in Qatar and the surrounding region.
The Academy is distinguished by a philosophy which aims to develop the whole student, providing them with full academic, social and sporting development.
Unrivalled facilities mark the Academy out as one of the world’s foremost sporting and educational institutions, and entice an ever increasing number of visitors from across the spectrum of world sports to use or simply view them. These same facilities will also play host to events during the forthcoming Asian Games 2006.
With one indoor and seven outdoor football pitches, athletics tracks, an Olympic-sized swimming pool, diving pool, combat arenas, gymnastics arena, specially designed weight rooms, lecture halls, dormitories to accommodate what will eventually become 1,000 students, a medical centre and more besides, much beneath the world’s largest purpose built indoor sports dome, every aspect of the development of elite athletes is catered for. ASPIRE is a place for those who dare to dream.
ASPIRE TODAY, INSPIRE TOMORROW
www.aspire.qa
