Over 10,000 Palestinian and international runners last Friday participated in the Eighth International Palestine Marathon in Bethlehem.
The Marathon started at the Church of the Nativity in the center of the Old City of Bethlehem in the attendance of a host of officials.
The marathon course took athletes through different views of Palestinian everyday life, including a few steep hills and some fast sections. It started at the Church of Nativity taking the runners through the city, the two refugee camps of Aida and Dheisheh, and along the Israeli apartheid wall, deemed illegal by the International Court of Justice in 2004.
It included four tracks; the full 42-kilometer race, a 21-kilometer race, a 10-kilometer race, and the five-kilometer family race.
There were over 10,000 Palestinian and international athletes, including 1,150 internationals representing 80 states, including athletes from Jordan, Kuwait, UAE, Egypt, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia, and 500 members of the diplomatic corps in Palestine. Females account for 50 percent of the total number of athletes.
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