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2009 Amathunta Half Marathon & 10 km

Jordanian runner Salameh Alaqra wins the 2009 Amathunta Half Marathon for the 4th consecutive year

A bright sunny morning assisted in producing a relaxed and festive atmosphere, as almost 200 runners assembled for the Amathunta Half Marathon & 10-km Races held on Sunday 15 November 2009. This combined distances event, which was successfully organised by Agios Tychonas Community Board and NIKI Sports Management, was started at 9:00 a.m. at the Ancient Amathus Ruins by Mr. Pambos Ioannou, the President of the Agios Tychonas Community Board.  

Most of the runners came from abroad especially to participate in the event. The route took them from the Ancient Amathus Ruins, heading west along the seafront road towards Limassol. At the 5 km point, all runners turned to reverse the course back to Ancient Amathus, with the Half Marathon runners then repeating the course. Throughout the morning the Limassol Police and Agios Tychonas Traffic Policemen superbly directed the traffic for the maximum safety of runners and traffic alike. The Limassol Boy Scouts manned the fluid stations and gave an excellent service to all participants.

The Jordanian runner Salameh Alaqra won the Amathunta Half Marathon for the fourth consecutive year finishing in a time of 1:16:08. Mr. Mohammad Al Swaiti, also from Jordan, was runner up with a time of 1:17:51. In the women's category, the Bulgarian lady Emilia Hristova won in a time of 1:45:11 with Sarah Smith from United Kingdom in second place with a time of 1:47:35. The male winner of the Amathunta 10-km Road Race was locally-based Briton Andrew Buckley with a time of 36:02 and female winner was British lady Caroline Archibold with a time of 46:38. The first team of the Half Marathon competition was "JSSU" followed by "Aramex Jordan" in second place and "TPMH Akrotiri" third. Event results for both distances (Half Marathon & 10 km) can be found on the Web page:
http://www.spidernet.net/main/web/amathuntahalfmarathon/results.html

Every participant who finished the Amathunta Half Marathon or 10-km was given a quality, commemorative T-shirt very generously sponsored by Ms. Niki Fitidou and an engraved medal.  Awards were given to the first three runners in each of the 32 categories. Event presentations were also made to the Head of Police, The Limassol Boy Scouts and to the local dance group.  After the race the Organisers offered to all participants ample quantities of seasonal fruit (bananas, oranges and apples), beer, juices and electrolytes, all kindly donated by our sponsors.

The competitors were very impressed with the friendliness, efficiency and the thoroughness of the organisation of the races. The Organisers of the Amathunta Half Marathon & 10-km wish to express their most sincere thanks to all our sponsors of the race: Cyprus Tourism Organisation, Ms. Niki Fitidou, SpiderNet Services Public Ltd and Cyprus Airways Ltd.  Agios Tychonas Community Board and NIKI Sports Management would like to thank each and every one who was involved, in any capacity, in this, the 4th running of the Amathunta Half Marathon & 10-km.