63-year-old Omani runner takes on 560km ‘Border to Coast’ challenge

Hamed Al H-arthi, one of Oman’s best and most experienced long-distance runners, has set himself the daunting challenge of running 560km in seven days as he takes on the ‘Border to Coast’ challenge. Starting from Um Zumul, the border town where Oman meets the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, on March 13. He aims to arrive in Sur by March 19, all in aid of Donate.om, Oman’s donations portal for charitable organisations.

The route he has chosen will pass through the village of Al Khuwayr in the Al Dhahira Governorate, ‘Uwayfiyah and Adam – the halfway point of the journey. From there, he will head to Al Mudaybi and Al Qabil in the North Al Sharqiya Governorate and then through to Sur. The journey offers a varied challenge of different terrains, landscapes and temperatures to contend with.

Speaking ahead of the run, Hamed said, “I have always been passionate about challenging myself and inspiring others through running. The Border to Coast event is an opportunity to engage with runners from across the country and raise awareness of the sport in each Governorate, while raising funds for charitable causes within Oman”. 

It is a unique challenge across the entire width of our nation, covering a variety of different surfaces and communities, and I hope to see many more runners along the way as they come together to share this journey with me.”

63-year-old Hamed has dedicated his entire life to running and has conquered some of the most challenging races in the world. In 2018, he competed in OMAN by UTMB® and Ushuaia by UTMB® in Argentina in 2019, UTMB® Mont-Blanc 2021 and reached the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro the same year.

He will be accompanied by a community of running enthusiasts in each Governorate along the way, as well as a technical and logistics team to ensure his safety and maintain the correct course. 

The Border to Coast challenge is also supported by Dhofar Insurance, Hamed’s personal sponsors for the endeavour.

Link to the donation portal: https://bit.ly/35LBspS

************************************************************************

Readers

These are extraordinary times. All of us have to rely on high-impact, trustworthy journalism. And this is especially true of the Indian Diaspora. Members of the Indian community overseas cannot be fed with inaccurate news.

Pravasi Samwad is a venture that has no shareholders. It is the result of an impassioned initiative of a handful of Indian journalists spread around the world.  We have taken the small step forward with the pledge to provide news with accuracy, free from political and commercial influence. Our aim is to keep you, our readers, informed about developments at ‘home’ and across the world that affect you.

Please help us to keep our journalism independent and free.

In these difficult times, to run a news website requires finances. While every contribution, big or small, will makes a difference, we request our readers to put us in touch with advertisers worldwide. It will be a great help.

For more information: pravasisamwad00@gmail.com