The Standard Chartered Marathon Comes to Dubai
The Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon has recently been awarded status as a Gold Label event by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAFF).

LONDON, ENGLAND, December 19, 2011 /24-7PressRelease/ -- The 12th annual Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon is slated to commence on Friday, January 27, 2012. The event will include the main marathon, scheduled to begin at 7:00 am, the 10K road race at 7:15 am and the 3K Fun Run at 10:30 am. All three races will start at the same location in downtown Dubai. The start gantry will be just outside the Pavilion at the Burj Khalifa. The races will finish at the finish gantry located on the opposite side of the street.

The 2012 Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon marks the first marathon in the Middle East to be awarded Gold Label status by the IAAF. IAAF Gold Label status is considered one of the highest accreditations for road races in the world. The Gold Label status afforded the Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon brings the race into a new level that is on par with some of the most prestigious marathons in the world, including the marathons in Chicago, Boston, London and Berlin.

Qualification for Gold Label status was not a simple matter. Several criteria had to be met in order to be considered. These criteria included global media coverage, the inclusion of a variety of international runners and past winning race times.

Director of Dubai's largest running event, Peter Connerton, said of the event's qualification, "I am delighted that we have satisfied the demands of the IAAF and can now prepare for the 2012 event in Dubai on January 27."

Connerton continued his statement by saying, "We should all be very proud of our development and the fact we now belong to a small group of the best road races in the world. Only days before receiving Gold Label status, Dubai was voted the third-best city for sporting events in the world, behind only London and Melbourne.

For more information on the event, see: http://www.dubaimarathon.org/.

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