Farahati, the winner of the 5th edition
‘‘I am very disappointed and a little
bit ashamed of my score,’’ said Moindjoumoi Ahamada Abdou, member of the MPI
(Marathon Place of Independence) club. The 20 year- old student from the state
high school Said Mohamed Sheikh is ranked 12th for this 5th
edition of Women in the Race (Femmes
dans la course) in French. Miss Ahamada Abdou runs for the fourth time since
2010.
For this event held on March, 2nd 2014, women had to run 3.5
km from the Place of Independence through the capital city of Moroni. The
runners were classified in three categories of ages with three departures. The
first group aged between 16 and 25 opened the competition. They were followed
by another group of women aged 26 to 40. The category aged more than 40 was the
last to run with a difference of a couple of minutes between the three
departures.
According to Nouhere Bafakihi, spokesperson
of Women on the Move association, the
idea of creating this event started in April 2009 when many Comorian women
decided to participate in the first edition of The Marathon International of Comoros organized by the ministry of
health with the support of a French counselor named Alain Le Guarrec.
Baraka Mmadi, 64, the dean of the race
Khadija Ali Moundhiri works as
meteorologist at ASECNA, an international agency in charge of regulating the
transport of planes in Africa. She is the president of Women on the Move. According to her, the aim of the association is
to motivate women to practice sport for their well-being. ‘‘We intend to
organize different sporting events such as basketball, volley ball, soccer, to
name a few. But we lack means and sponsors,’’ she said.
Foundi Karnet is a former basketball coach. He is one of the honorary guests among ministers, ambassadors and
international representatives who attended the event. According to him, sport
for women in Comoros really started in the 1960s. ‘‘I was in Madagascar in 1964
when the minister of that time Said Mohamed Djohar told me to go back home in
Comoros in order to promote sport for women. So, I started to train women for
basketball,’’ he proudly said.
Rebecca, the most Comorian of the Americans
Said Abdullah works as medical assistant
for Caritas, a French catholic NGO
based in Moroni.
‘‘Our
job was to check everyone’s health in terms of weigh, tall, glycaemia and blood
pressure before she runs. Only three people were dismissed from running because
of their high blood pressure,’’ he said. Abdullah was disturbed for not having
the time to check everyone before the departure. His team only checked one thirds
of the 216 women who registered for the event.
Rebecca, 42, is an American citizen who
lives in Comoros. She is the director of Volunteers
Service Group, an American NGO which works in the country especially in
English language training.
Rebecca is known as ‘‘Mama Liva.’’ She
is the winner of the competition for the second time in her category.
Former coach Foundi Karnet
Farahati Ali Msa, 19, is the winner of
this 5th edition in the youth group. Her score was 13 minutes, 09
seconds. She won three times the competition. Many people believe that she is
one of ‘‘the female best hope’’ among the Comorian athletes.
Madi Ali Bacar is the chief of the Fire Fighter
Department known as Civil Security. He was happy. In fact, his team only reported three cases of runners in their thirties who had breath
problems. The awards ceremony ended at 9 o’clock in the morning. Women in the Race is a sporting event
held every year on the first Sunday of March to celebrate the United Nations
International Day for Women.
Moroni, 2nd March, 2014.
Mouzawar Chami
Contributing writer
