Family-themed Porto Dead Sea Ultra Marathon kicks off April 3

AMMAN — The Porto Dead Sea Ultra Marathon kicks off April 3 under the theme “Run to the lowest point on Earth” with local, regional and international participation.

Deputising for HH Prince Firas, chairman of the Board of Run Jordan, Amman Mayor Aqel Biltaji said during a press conference held at the Greater Amman Municipality (GAM) that the municipality will always be a partner to all activities.

“GAM is always keen on supporting national initiatives and programmes that contribute to supporting and developing local communities. Run Jordan, through organising different running events, is keen on promoting positive lifestyles and a healthy Jordanian society,” he said.

“We are proud to be a strategic partner as we bring together everyone for a common goal, to reinforce positive personal values and behaviours, in addition to promoting fitness, healthy living and interaction based on the vision of His Majesty King Abdullah, who gives his ultimate support for socially healthy activities,” he added.

This year’s ultra marathon has the support of Porto Dead Sea as a main sponsor.

Porto’s CEO Fakhri Fouad said: “It is a great opportunity to partner with Run Jordan and promote a healthy lifestyle which we also promote in our projects such as the Dead Sea project in which we have located many activities and opened the door for sport, leisure, cultural and entertainment opportunities.”

Meanwhile, Lina Kurd, Run Jordan deputy general manager, stressed on the fact that all marathons have a family theme.

“We always focus on marketing our marathons as a family event in which all family members can participate and we expect more than 7,000 runners. We thank all our sponsors and supporters and also our runners, who will try to break records in the coming marathon,” she said.

According to Kurd, the marathon consists of four runs: the ultra-marathon (50km), which will start from the 1st traffic light after the 8th Circle towards the Airport Road in front of Total Gas Station at 6am.

“The Half Marathon [21km] starts 3km after the Zero point towards the Amman Tourist Beach near the central vegetable market at 6am. The Fun Run [10km] starts 2km after the Baptism Site at 10am and the 10km wheelchair and visually impaired race begins 2km after the Baptism Site at 9:50am,” she said.

Kurd noted that Run Jordan is also working on the Irbid Marathon in May, the Amman Marathon in October and the Ayla Marathon in December. 

Last year, history was made when wheelchair marathon champion Ali Sawalmeh won the 21km and 10km races at the 21st annual run of the International Dead Sea Ultra Marathon. Sawalmeh dominated the two races after clocking 1h16m41s in the 21km event and 23m39s in the 10km.

Meanwhile, Jordan’s Methqal Abadi won the 50km run and Sudan’s Hanoi Ali won the women’s category.