Monday, 19 October 2009

Amaidan wins Wimbledon Audi 10k

On occasion of his visit to the UK in order to support Sandblast in  their campaigning efforts for the Saharamarathon, Salah Amaidan took part in the Wimbledon Audi 10k on Sunday, October 18th...and won!

Salah has been training for this race since he arrived in London on Oct 8th; that is, he tried to use every second for his training that he was not busy giving interviews, engaging in debates with students, activists, politicians and other members of the public. In the last two weeks, he toured through England from London to Brighton and Bath, he spoke to the Muslim community at the City Circle, to students at the Royal High School of Bath and Sussex University, ran laps at Parliament Square for each year the 1975 ICJ verdict on Sahrawi self-determination has been ignored and, finally yesterday, he competed in the 10km race in Wimbledon. 

The Wimbledon Guardian will be reporting about his victory tomorrow. The source, however, is sitting right here and this is what Salah said about the race:

"I came to the UK to support the charity Sandblast and their efforts to campaign for the annual Saharamarathon in the camps. By this, British people get the chance to see and experience for themselves how my people have to live. When I run and win races, this is a way for me of expressing the aspirations of my people for their independence.

[To the Wimbledon Audi 10k] I enjoyed running the race in Wimbledon but it was hard for me as it is a lot colder and hillier than I am used to. I was very happy to win but I would have loved to win an Audi 4x4 to support my youth athletic projects in the refugee camps."

Wimbledon Audi 10k results: Wimbledon Audi 10k (pdf)


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