Dubai: The Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon, which was scheduled to be held this weekend, has been postponed following the death of its patron, Shaikh Maktoum Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the late Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai. Around 14,000 runners, who were set to compete in one of the UAE's biggest events, will now have to wait for another month.
The Chairman of the event, Ahmad Al Kamali, needed only a few solemn words to describe the situation.
"Due to the death of Shaikh Maktoum Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the Dubai Marathon has been delayed until a further time and date," Al Kamali said yesterday at a press conference that was supposed to launch the event.
Kamali and the other top officials, including event director Peter Connerton and Niall McLoughlin, Standard Chartered's account director, said that the event would be staged on a later date.
"Shaikh Maktoum was a big personality and a federal founder, he was also the Vice-President of Dubai and we have to understand and pray everything will be fine." Al Kamali mentioned February 15, 17 and 24 as possible replacement dates and encouraged people to continue registering.
"We'll just make sure the athletes get to their flights and then we will get another schedule happening maybe 40 days from today, around February 15," he said. "There will definitely be a new date, but we will have to talk because many of the athletes have commitments with the London and Berlin marathons."
Doctor Gabriele Rosa, an Italian-based coach who manages more than 100 Kenyan runners, put a positive spin on the situation when he confirmed the postponement could give Usisivu Boniface time to recover.
Dr Rosa said Boniface could be ready if the race is held later in February. "I will be back and in fact this could be big for the race because Usisivu has been injured, but he might be ready come February."
Meanwhile, as the official mourning period in the UAE is 40 days, there was a feeling yesterday that the Dubai Desert Classic, a PGA European Tour event, could also be cancelled.
However, a spokesman for the Classic, which has a prize pool of $2.4 million (Dh8.8 million), said the organisers were hoping that the event would go ahead as scheduled.
