Bilal Awadah & Melissa Rizk Winners of the 4th Edition of ISF Wissam Eid International Half-Marathon - Record Participation

Date: Sun, 27/02/2011

Race Results
Despite the stormy weather, which ravaged the country for the past 48 hours including race day Sunday 27th, 2011, over 400 runners of the 496 registered showed up at the start line of the 4th edition of ISF Wissam Eid International Half-Marathon in the “Chevrolet” area of Hazmieh at the very spot where Wissam Eid was cowardly assassinated 4 years earlier.

The “official” national defense, UNIFIL, and of course Veterans, Inter-Lebanon, Homentmen Beirut, Antonins and Blue Stars were strongly represented in this race. Jointly organized by the ISF and Inter-Lebanon under the patronage of General Ashraf Riffi, this 21.1K race has become an inescapable must do.

The finish line was within the ISF Mobile Force barracks in Dbayeh, and various national defense and security organizations were represented at the awards ceremony. The Commander in Chief of UNIFIL, General Assarta (whose wife took part in the race), joined Brigadier General Robert Jabbour, the spokesperson for the occasion representing ISF Mobile Force Commander General Ashraf Riffi. We were also honored by the presence of special guests LAF President Mir Abdallah Chehab, BMA President May el Khalil, representatives of MedNet and BANKMED, and last but not least, Major Wissam Eid’s parents.

Although each finisher was handed a commemorative medal, the first 3 of each age/gender category (as defined by the IAAF) were awarded trophies and monetary prizes.

As usual the Army runners dominated the men’s race, whereas Inter-Lebanon confirmed its uncontested supremacy on the women’s side. Bilal Awadah of the Lebanese Army came first, with a time of 1h 14m 01s beating his team mates Hussein Hajj Hassan and Malek Nasr by 1 second and 2 seconds respectively. Melissa Rizk, an Inter-Lebanon athlete, who already won the Lebanese Half-Marathon Championship, confirmed her leadership by clocking 1h 30m 45s, the 2nd best time of the year (after Pia Nehme at the ING Miami Half-Marathon) followed by her team mates Sonia Wansa Hanna (2nd overall) and UK Ambassador to Lebanon Frances Guy (3rd overall).

Although the race was pleasant in general, the clumsy handling of the timing by the LAF, who insisted on taking charge since they are legally and technically responsible for it, polluted the results to a certain extent. We have learned our lesson and from now on we will record timing in parallel with the LAF.

Thanks

Submitted by Anonymous on Fri, 04/03/2011 - 10:35.

Despite the weather and some little problems, this race was nice.
It was the 2nd time (20/02-10km)that I ran in Beyrut. And if UNIFIL will be invited, I will ran with pleasure!
Thanks to all staff!

Malgré la pluie et quelques petits problèmes, la course était très plaisante.
C'était la 2e fois que je cours à Beyrouth (20/02-10km). Si l'UNIFIL est à nouveau invitée, c'est avec plaisir que je reviendrai courir à vos côtés.
Merci pour l'organisation.

Patrick
French Comp. UNIFIL
Naqoura

Marathon du Cedre

Submitted by Anonymous on Fri, 04/03/2011 - 20:32.

Patrick nous organisons le marathon du Cedre le 27 Mars, 2011. Nous allons evidemment inviter la FINUL. A bientot

clarifications

Submitted by Anonymous on Tue, 01/03/2011 - 19:54.

Chers ami(e)s athletes et dirigeants sportifs,

comme j'etais de la part de la FLA le superviseur de la course du 1/2 marathon organisee par la RRA le 27 fevrier dernier, je tiens a eclaircir ces qques points tres tres essentiels et a vous devoiler une partie de la correspondance qui a eu lieu a posteriori, entre Roger et moi meme concernant cette course:

Cher Roger,
Tu sais tres bien que nous sommes là la FLA et ton club pour nous aider et pour ne pas se taper dessus les uns les autres.

Eh bien je suis tres surpris et etonné, de ta part, de lire ce que tu as ecris au sujet de ce fameux timing sur ton site.

J'estime que c'est une grave faute qui a été commise, mais par ailleurs, cette grave faute aurait pu etre reparable si elle avait ecouté mes directives.

D'autre part puisque ns avons su et cerné la difference du timing qui a eu lieu, et qui etait de 10' et 15 ", tu aurais pu ne pas ecrire ce que tu as ecris sur ton site afin de clamer devant tt le monde champion que tu es, mais discretement me parler afin d'eclaircir cette histoire.

Je t'ecris en tant qu'ami et sur le plan de notre cooperation ensemble et ayant l'esprit sportif toi et moi pr t'exprimer ma tristesse sur ce que tu veux montrer aux autres.

ENFIN ET CE QUI EST TRES TRES IMPORTANT, C'EST à TOI, ORGANISTEUR, DE TE CHARGER DE NS PROCURER LES CHRONOS ET MEME 2 CHRONOS PR L'ARRIVéE; ET CE N'EST PAS à LA DERNIERE MI NUTES (CAR MAGASINS FERMéS), QUE ALAIN BEJJANI ME TELEPHONE LE SOIR VERS 20:00, A TA DEMANDE, AFIN DE ME DEMANDER D'ACHETER DES CHRONOS AFIN DE PRENDRE LE TIMING , ET D'ETRE OBLIGER D'AMENER DES CHRONOS DE FORTUNE DE PART ET D'AUTRE AFIN DE FAIRE LE JOB.FAUTE TRES TRES GRAVE.

TU DOIS SAVOIR QUE 2 CHRONOS PR L'ARRIVéE ST TRES ESSENTIELS.

J'espere bien que ce que tu as mis sur ton blog tu vas le rectifier (VOIRE STYLE) au sujet du timing car ns sommes là pr ns entre aider et pr ne pas se pamer les uns par rapport aux autres.

--- En date de : Mar 1.3.11, roger@bejanibejani.com a écrit :

De: roger@bejanibejani.com
Objet: Re: precisions............
À: "fady salameh"
Date: Mardi 1 mars 2011, 16h31

Cher Fadi,

J'accepte tes critiques et tu peux les poster aussi. Le fait est que la chose la plus importante dans la course c.a.d le chrono/temps fucked up. On est oblige d'etre transparents avec les coureurs. Mon explication est objective et exacte. Elle n'est pas maquillee et je prends responsabilite aussi puisque nous aurions du avoir 2 chronos a l'arrivee.
Ne rien dire est pire. Je crois que nous orienteaux devront nous habituer a la critique sans se sentir necessairement attaque

Amities

Roger

en date de : Mar 1.3.11, fady salameh a écrit :

De: fady salameh
Objet: Re: precisions............
À: roger@bejanibejani.com
Date: Mardi 1 mars 2011, 17h27

Oui mais ton style n'est pas ds le sympathique, c'est plutot ds l'accusation.

tu aurai pu dire qu'une erreur de chronometrage a bien eu lieu sans insinuer que la FLA a rate car , ce qui est arrive a ete قضاء وقضر
d'autre part tu ne peux pas promettre que en parallele next time RRA va prendre le timing , tu peux par contre mettre sur le blog que tu procureras 2 voire 3 chrono 4 next time , that will b more objective.

friendly
Fady

je reitere mes excuses envers les coureurs pr qui le temps a ete fausse, et leur promets next time que Roger ns procurera (car c'est a lui organisateur de penser a cela) 3 chronos pr au cas ou un arret de chrono a lieu (et cela peut tres bien arriver), les autres chronos soient la pr prendre la releve, mais prendre un timing en parallele cela n'est pas necessaire et il est illegal.

AMITIES PR TT LE MONDE ET SURTOUT PR TOI ROGER QUI FAIT TT POUR PROMOUVOIR L'ATHLE AU LIBAN, MAIS COMME LE COMMUN DES MORTELS TU PEUX OMETTRE DES CHOSES ET FAIRE DES FAUTES.

CELA N'EST PAS GRAVE JE TE PARDONNE CETTE FOIS CI, ET NEXT TIME TU SERAS PLUS ATTENTIF ET PLUS SHARPE PR PENSER A NS PROCURER 3 CHRONOS PR L'ARRIVEE.

FRIENDLY

MY SINCERE FRIENDSHIP FOR EVERYBODY AND SPECIALLY FOR YOU ROGER WHO IS MAKING EVERYTHING TO PROMOTE ATHLETISME THROUGHOUT LEBANON.

BUT LIKE MOST EVERYBODY YOU FORGET TO DO THINGS AND YOU DO MISTAKES.

IT IS NOT A PROBLEM, I FORGIVE YOU THIS TIME AND GIVE YOU ANOTHER CHANCE TO REPAIR WHAT YOU UNCONSCIENSIOUSLY DID, AND I AM SURE THAT NEXT TIME YOU WILL BE MORE ACCURATE AND SHARPE ENOUGH TO BRING US 3 CHRONOS FOR THE ARRIVAL TIMEKEEPERS

FRIENDLY,

FADY SALAMEH,
LAF TREASURER,
AND 1/2 MARATHON SUPERVISOR.

ISF Wissam Eid: Impressions

Submitted by administrator on Tue, 01/03/2011 - 18:16.

The ISF race on Sunday, February 27, 2011 held many surpises for us runners. One of these surprises was the moderate weather we started with and which held on being fair until we were in our buses. The second of those surprises, one might say, was the well-organized race track we had rarely seen in Lebanon, not even during the Full Marathon Day on which I recall that, after crossing the finishing line, many late comers were met with catastrophic conditions, such as not finding anything for a bite or barely getting a medal by someone. On the other hand, the conditions after the finishing line on the ISF Day were excellent and the breakfast was rich to the extent that nobody was left without Knefeh or fruits which were abundant. Not to forget the gorgeous trophies we got and the surprisingly to be-handed prizes of $300, $200, and $100 respectively which had to be given to us when we could sustain running till the end of the 42 km and which is by itself considered an achievement and requires a prize, indeed.
So, congratulations to the Lebanese Internal Forces who proved to be good organizers and let's hope that the conditions of the few Lebanese runners improve in the near future and not to be kept neglected by those in charge.
Jackie Younan
February 28th, 2011

timing

Submitted by Anonymous on Tue, 01/03/2011 - 09:34.

Dear All,

I start by stating that we feel ashamed and sorry for the deficient timing by the LAF finish line referees. We take full responsibility for that since we should have anticipated such inefficiency and should have kept parallel timing. It will be done next time.

In practice, all times in excess of 1.40 are inaccurate but not far from reality. We therefore ask each one of you to email Barbara his/her time as per wrist chronometer. We will correlate with the photos and try to rebuild the times for each one of you on this basis.

Sorry once again

Roger Bejjani