NNA – Nearly 7,000 Lebanese, Arab and foreign runners participated in the "Race of Hope" organized by the Beirut Marathon Association along the capital’s waterfront area, with only local elite runners partaking in the absence of foreign elite runners.

Lebanon's Tony Hanna, the winner of the men's race, managed to boost his record by registering 2:33:02, while Lebanese Sherine Njeim led the women’s race by a record of 3:00:18 hours.

Attending the event were: Governor of Beirut, Judge Marwan Abboud; President of the Lebanese Olympic Committee, Pierre Jalakh; Secretary General of the Committee, retired Brigadier General Hassan Rustom; President of the Lebanese Athletics Federation, Roland Saadeh’; Commander of the UNIIL Peacekeeping Forces in the South, General Del Col; Commander of the High Center for Military Sports, Brigadier General Elias Hanna; Head of the Emergency and Paramedic Services at the Lebanese Red Cross, Rosie Boulos; Assistant to the President of the Lebanese American University, Saad El-Zein; Chairman of the Board of Directors for the Beirut Digital District, Mohammad Rabah; President of the Organizing Association, May El-Khalil, and representatives of local, Arab and foreign media.

Diplomatic missions also took part in the Marathon, as US Ambassador Dorothy Shea ran an 8-kilometer race, and so did General Del Col, alongside dozens of members of the international peacekeeping forces.

==========R.Sh.