Man outruns horse in desert race
By Issam Hamza
Thursday February 7, 1:40 AM
ABU DHABI (Reuters) - U.S. runner Tom Johnson battled heat, sand and stray camels to outrun an Arabian horse in a desert endurance race on Wednesday, finishing just 10 seconds ahead of the animal at the end of an 80-km (50-mile) contest.
Johnson completed the race in the United Arab Emirates in five hours and 45 minutes, taking advantage of the horse's need for a total of one hour's rest.
"It was a big challenge for me and I did it," Johnson, 42, told Reuters, trying to catch his breath after beating al-Buraq which was ridden by fellow American Jennifer Nice in the first race of its kind in the Middle East.
"In the last metres of the race, I looked behind to see the horse approaching so I increased my speed to the maximum and I won," Johnson said.
Al-Buraq is named after what Muslims believe was a winged horse that flew the Prophet Mohammad from Mecca to Jerusalem.
Al-Buraq took two rest periods of 40 minutes and 20 minutes and was given water and food as required by endurance racing rules.
"I was totally surprised at Johnson's ability to run so fast and to remain strong," Nice said. "Next time I'll try to win."
She said 12-year-old al-Buraq was owned by Sheikh Mansour bin Zaid, son of UAE President Sheikh Zaid bin Sultan al-Nahayan, who organised the event attended by 200 onlookers.
Johnson said he was bothered by the desert heat, sand and stray camels during the race, conducted at al-Wathba race track near the UAE capital Abu Dhabi.
"Yes, I expect a financial prize for winning this race from Sheikh Mansour, but I honestly do not know how much," he said.
He said he held a slow pace for the first 35 km, then stepped up the speed and only broke into a sprint the last few metres.
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