RSSCedar Green Marathon - An Amazing Race
| Date: Sun, 27/03/2011 |
Race Results |
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Melissa Rizk and Shahi Bikas winners of the Cedar Green Marathon - a breathtaking race in support of the environment and in memory of François Genadry Logo by runner Jihad Kibbi |
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The Cedar Green Marathon 42.195 kilometer race on Sunday, 27 March 2011 was not only a rigorous test of runners’ endurance, but also planned by Inter-Lebanon Road Running & Athletics Club as a wakeup call about the dangers to our environment.
140 marathon runners from UNIFIL, ISF, and various Lebanese athletic clubs, mainly Inter-Lebanon and Veterans Club registered for this Beirut-Byblos race. The weather was beautiful and over eighty runners accompanied by cyclists crossed the finish line where they were welcomed by Eddé Yard and the Municipality of Jbeil.
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The performance of Melissa Rizk (Inter-Lebanon) who ran her first marathon was remarkable, especially since Melissa was not only 8 minutes ahead of her nearest rival but she also recorded the best Lebanese women’s time ever in a marathon in Lebanon (3h 15m 39s). Elga Trad (Veterans Club) was second with a time of 3h 23m 56s and 1st in her age group. Frances Guy, the British Ambassador to Lebanon, finished in 3rd place and first in her age group with a good time of 3h 27m 58s. |
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On the men’s side the absence of Lebanese Army runners was notable, especially since the race was a memorial to the late retired Brigadier General François Genadry, an army officer who made his mark both on the army and the running world. This opened the podium to other runners. From the 35th kilometer the Nepalese UNIFIL runner Shahi Bikas stole a victory over Daoud Mustapha (Veterans Club) who arrived 2 minutes after Shahi. The men’s podium was completed by Indonesian UNIFIL runner Yusriadin in 3rd place.
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An award ceremony honored the first three overall winners of each gender as well as the winners in 8 categories of each gender. The ceremony was held in Eddé Yard in the presence of the representative of his Excellency the President of the Republic General Michel Sleiman, the Environment Minister Mohammad Rahhal; the President of the Municipality of Jbeil Mr. Ziad Hawat; the Chairperson of the Byblos Festival Committee Ms. Latife Lakkis; and Mr. and Mrs. Roger and Alice Eddé, who hosted the ceremony.
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This 0 Edition of the Cedar Green Marathon will be followed in subsequent years by more ambitious international editions. The competitive nature and green theme will be refined for the pleasure of real road runners, Lebanese and other nationalities.
Still far away from the Greenness we are aiming for…but nevertheless, a very rewarding race
How people interact with major sport events happening on their front doorstep or in their neighborhood is extremely revealing. The Lebanese have not yet reached the point of positively and enthusiastically embracing sports events such as a marathon. The bitter sweet pain of an epic 42.195K looks even sweeter with a cheering crowd of enthusiastic and friendly faces. The people of Jounieh, Bouar, Okaibe, and Hallat still need a generation or two before they look like a Boston Marathon crowd. A few individuals stepped in and helped, but the majority of locals seemed unconcerned and uninterested in runners of all ages and nationalities struggling over the surrounding rolling hills.
We need to focus on informing more people and creating greater awareness of sports and environment. It’s a long process, but we are long distance runners, aren’t we?
Inter-Lebanon will nurture the Cedar Green Marathon (CGM) year after year, and this event will become the flagship event of the club from 2012. In fact, CGM edition 1 is already scheduled for March 25th, 2012. Long term planning with a well thought ad campaign will aim to position our marathon as a serious must do regional Green Marathon in 2012.
So what happened on March 27th 2011 on the road from Beirut to Byblos? The atmosphere was positive and lively. Marathoners escorted by amazingly helpful bikers linked both ancient cities with their legs, sweat, and heart beats. Some marathoners lost their marathon virginity, since it was their first ever; to name but a few of these: Melissa Rizk, Joyce Nassar, Lenka Tamim, Aseel Basma. Melissa amazed all observers (but not me) with a 3.15 performance on her very first marathon - the fastest time ever of a Lebanese woman runner in Lebanon. Many others ran their PBs, such as Alma Khadra, Dania Nasser, Walid el-Kabbani, and few others I am sure. Runners all had a smile on their faces and this alone spells victory.
The ISF with limited manpower and a wide range of responsibilities did their best regarding road closures, and we are grateful for that. However, next year our focus will be on towns and municipalities, months before CGM race day.
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Organisation du CGM 0 edition
Roger,
Tu as sans doute lu et entendu beaucoup de critiques, positives Et négatives à propos de ce marathon. Moi pour ma part, j'ai pris mon pied, même si ce pied là maintenant me fait mal :)
Organiser un tel événement nécessite des moyens non négligeables, des nuits blanches, de l'huile de coudes, de l'aide... que tout le monde ne t'as pas forcément accordé... bref une organisation et une logistique que personne ne peut entreprendre seul (même si certaines mauvaises langues disent que tu es plutôt One Man Show... mais si on veut que les choses soient bien faites...surtout pour la première édition...) alors:
Merci Roger, Merci Barbara, et Merci à tous ceux qui étaient en coulisses et que je ne connais pas.
Justin
temoignage Justin
Thanks Justin for your genuine sportsman assessment. Lebanon is Lebanon and Lebanese are Lebanese. It is about time that we get used to it/them. Obviously the overwhelming feed-back (at least) is very positive. A large number of marthoners ran their first marathon on that day and a larger number ran PBs. 95% of the finishers had a million dollars smile on their face; which said it all. We certainly know where are the areas that need to be improved and we've started already to work on them. Our challenge is to serve a better edition year after year. CGM will impose itself as the anchor marathon in the country. Regarding the "one man show", it is not a very precise assessment; since Barbara does most of the leg work; sonia did her share as well and many others behind the scenes. Neverthelss, we have always welcomed critics, objectively driven, subjective ones or vindicative ones....no matter. Behind my mean attitiude on race day, i am a genuine democrat and I do beleive that at the end of the day, truth always win. We mainly rely on runners like you, Dario and many others who are in it for the sport and do depise by nature unsportsman attitudes. In our books running is not restricted to the legs and the heart beat, it is a state of mind as well. Always a pleasure to see you lined-up at races
Italian Partecipation
Could You attach more importance to Italian runners seeing that the first European runner was from Italy ........!!!
..........Dario ?? is it you
..........Dario ?? is it you ??
Italians
Viva Italia!!! Great Italian participation indeed. Hope to have 10 times more italians on March 25, 2012
Roger
Thank you
Hi,
It was a wonderful race! Well organized, despite a lack of food between 1-20k. But with 0$ of fee, we arent so demanding!
We will pay more to have more. Each year would be better.
I discover Lebanon through races and I love it.
Thanks all for these 42.195km of joy!
C'était une course merveilleuse! Très bien organisée malgré un manque de ravitaillement en fruit entre 1-20 km. Mais avec 0$ d'inscription, ne soyons pas trop exigeant!
Nous payerons pour avoir mieux. Chaque année sera meilleure
Je découvre le Liban à travers les courses et j'adore ça.
Merci à tous pour ces 42.195km de bonheur!
Shou balad ktiir 7elo! ;-)
Patrick
French from Unifil
Peace for Lebanon et Lebanese
Beautiful race! It is amazing
Beautiful race! It is amazing how we all still get disappointed with the lack of interest of the general public in this kind of race. I was actually one of those expecting to see people lined-up from Jounieh to Jbeil cheering the runners! Reality sucks. Ziad
CDG
Hi everyone,
TheCDG marathon running conditions were perfect, as a runner I enjoyed the race.
Regarding the lack of cheering I believe it was because the people on the race track were not aware that a race was held mainly due to the small number of runners. From Jounieh till the finish line road was open to cars(however in the presence of policemen to secure the runners). As for myself from K18 till
K39 I could not see any runner in front of me nor behind me.
So when passing through all the coastal villages I was for the local population just a jogger running by himself.
On the runners side I was impressed by the discipline of the runners who respected the rule of not littering. I did not see a single cup of water on the road.
Great job Roger, definitely for the next edition we will all together do better on the awarnes and greener side. My grade for this 0 edition is 7/10.
Serge Tchopourian
CDG Charles De Gaulle
Mon cher Serge, I am sure you'referring to CGM Cedar Green Marathon not to CDG Charles De Gaulle. Tu dois etre obsede par cet aeroport
Roger
Answer to Serge
you're probably right about the cheering part. We will stat promorting this race for 2012 from today. We will be building a separate web site soon and will work in close hands with the municpalities and the local communities during the next 12 months. This race will grow year after year in number of runners, in awarness and local community involvement
Well done!
This race made so jealous from all those who were part of it either on bikes or as runners :)
I really want to undergo such experience next year!
Bravo to ALL CHAMPS: Meli, Alma, Dania, Aseel...
And yes, Lebanese need a lot of education in road running sports and athleticism !!Unfortunately!
It's not just common people in towns and villages, I always have to explain to my colleagues, engineers or master students what is running and who is a long distance runner...
They are not to blame....I, had to discover this wonderful world by myself almost 2 years ago...
Better late than never!
Keep up the great work!
Farah M.
photos
suggest larger photos Barbara. They're too tiny
Roger