The Doha Marathon by Ooredoo aims to strengthen Qatar’s running culture by spotlighting local athletes and creating Qatari sporting heroes who inspire wider participation.
Wissam Terro, Chief Business Officer of Suffix Events, said the initiative to give Qatari runners greater prominence was part of a wider effort to build awareness of running as a growing sport in the country.
"It’s a growing sport first. You need to create heroes of this country,” Terro told Gulf Times.
The organisers have introduced special recognition for leading Qatari runners, including presenting them to the community during the marathon’s press conference and giving them priority positions at the start on race day.
"We call everybody, we will introduce them in the press conference,” Terro said, explaining that the leading Qatari runners would be introduced alongside the international elite athletes.
He stressed that the recognition was not necessarily based on their international running calibre, but on their position as leading athletes within Qatar.
"It doesn’t mean they have a high standard running calibre, but they are the elite of the country,” he said.
For Terro, creating visible local role models is essential if running is to develop beyond an individual sporting activity and become part of the country’s wider sporting culture.
"So Qataris, they should have heroes and Qatari heroes. So this is how we build the culture, we build the awareness around the running in general in the country,” he said.
The approach is part of a series of changes introduced by the marathon organisers as they seek to build on the previous edition.
Terro said the last edition established the foundations for the event, including greater recognition for Qatari runners, award ceremonies covering different age categories and race distances, and wave starts based on runners’ expected finishing times.
This year, the event will also feature an Arab category, inviting runners from across the region to compete for prize money.
"We introduced the Arab category, which is we invite most of the Arabs to come and participate and they will have prize money at the end,” Terro said.
He said the initiative would help bring more people to Doha while connecting the city with participants from across the region and beyond.
"This is the idea,” he said.
The marathon will also feature international elite runners, building on the strong international participation seen during the previous edition.
Terro said the organisers wanted the event to bring together participants from different backgrounds, from elite and amateur runners to children and families.
"This year you will feel the difference, the experience will be different for all participants from different backgrounds,” he said.
The ambition is ultimately to make running more visible and accessible within the community while giving local athletes a platform to inspire others.
"If you don’t have heroes, people will not follow,” Terro said.
He added that the organisers hoped to build on this year’s edition with further initiatives in future.
"I hope that next year also we will create more ideas for the participants,” he said.