Doha Triathlon crowns new – old champions
The fourth edition of the Doha Triathlon Championship, organised by the Qatar Cycling and Triathlon Federation, was unveiled at the Museum of Islamic Art Museum on February 7, 2020 under the patronage of Qatar Olympic Committee, The Royal Air Maroc and in cooperation between the Federation and the Qatar Museums Authority.
The number of participants reached nearly four hundred athletes from different age groups and contested in Olympic, Sprint, Super Sprint and Youth Race distances. Added to the tournament was the classification for the National Championship for Qataris for the second edition in a row, which aims to encourage Qatari players to compete in the international triathlon events.
The organising committee of The Doha Triathlon had put the final touches before the start of the race. Swimming course was inside the Museum of Islamic Art bay, prepared in cooperation with the Marine Sports Club. The bicycle course spanned until the Sheraton Doha Hotel and the running course in MIA park. Each category had different distances that were set in the race schedule:
Olympic distance: which includes 1500 m swimming, 40 km of cycling and 10 km of running.
Sprint distance: which includes 750 m swimming, 20 km of cycling and 5 km of running.
Super Sprint: which includes 375 m swimming, 10 km of cycling and 2.5 km of running.
The enthusiastic atmosphere and the relatively moderate weather had a big factor in the success of the event that the contestants and the public alike enjoyed, as the championship did not witness any obstacles. The event was facilitated by Qatar Red Crescent, Qatar marine rescuers and Traffic police along with almost 100 race makers, which prepared a safe event.
The races saw no big surprises on the podium. Saad Al Mejali, member of Qtri triathlon team defended the title of the Qatar National Champion from 2019. He beat Ebrahim Alrumaihi followed by Abdulrahman Al Jaber.
The main event of the day – Olympic distance race was won by Spaniard Aday Alvarez in men open. Enzo Fascinato (ARG) won in the veteran men category. Gerda Maria Dumitru (ROM) won ladies open race and Pia Sundstedt (FIN) won the Veteran Women category.
In the Sprint race, the Series leader Berndard McCullagh (IRL) dominated the race and extended his lead in Open Men. Isora Sosa (SPA) won the ladies open category. Adam Kertezs (HUN), new name on the block, won in the Men Veteran category, and very familiar name Daniela Sposi (ITA) won the ladies veteran category.
Mateo Francesci (ITA) won the junior men race and Aisla Cameron (GBR) won the junior women’s race.
Full results of the the Doha Triatlon 2020 can be seen here: LINK
Dr. Mohammed Jeham Al-Kuwari, President of the Qatar Cycling and Triathlon Federation commented: “Today we saw the results of the fast growth of triathlon in Qatar with large participation in the events, where the Doha Triathlon recorded a large participation of athletes from more than 47 countries. We are happy with the level of organization of the fourth consecutive edition of the Doha Triathlon. We saw a strong race and big rivalry among players, which will undoubtedly ad to acquiring much needed experience for international events to follow.