DOHA: Around 140 riders featured in races held in Dukhan where Qatar Cycling Federation (QCF) and Qatar Chain Reaction (QCR) joined hands to organise the hugely popular event.
According to participants, the race proved to be very demanding. With winds reaching 15 knots per hour and slightly hilly terrain which is hard to find in Qatar, the race was tough from the first kilometres.
There were three different starts.
The first one was for the Man A riders, which had to tackle with 4 laps (97,6 km).
The QCF elite riders made a selection in the end of first lap, with most of the Carbon Wheels riders making a chase.
The gap in the end of the race was around 5 minutes with Ahmed Elbourdainy winning the race in front of Abdullah Afif and Said Moosa (all QCF elite team). Around 50 seconds behind were Sayed Medhat and Khalil Abduljanan (both QCF) in fourth and fifth places. The Man B race was 73.2km long, with 3 laps.
This race was more even since most of the riders were together until the half of the race.
In the last lap Raymond Semple (Giant RBS) and Kevin Hall (Velostar) made a pact and pulled together from other riders coming to finish in same time, third place was earned by Tom Whateley 30 seconds behind.
The race in Ladies A was won by Marie Marvillet (Carbon Wheels Racing).
The C group race, with two laps (48,8 km), was dominated by Filipino riders with Revie Pasion (SMCC) clinching a victory, 10 seconds in front of Ronald Balorio (Pinoy roadies) and Kofi Atuah (Qatar Chain Reaction).
The prize distribution ceremony was conducted by Ibrahim Mohammed, QCF Public Relations Manager.
Local races have developed in last two years in Qatar with more and more riders participating each time, a QCF official said.
“They races are of great support to national team riders and serve as a preparation for regional races like GCC Tour and international Tour of Al Zubarah, both coming up in December and organised by QCF,” Andrej Filip, Technical Secretary of QCF, said.
THE PENINSULA
