Jun 2008 - OPEC

The
institution honoured
its pledge
to “give something back” to the
city that has hosted its headquarters
since 1976 by making
100,000 euros available to the
event’s authorities to help pay
for activities aimed at celebrating
the marathon’s silver jubilee.
OFID is also providing grants to
the tune of $100,000 for two local
non-governmental organizations
— Hilfswerk Austria and CARE
Austria — which will be used to
promote health and development.
But on the day of the marathon,
it was the entrants
from OFID, as well as the OPEC
Secretariat, that stole the show. The two organizations
managed to field over 50 willing and eager participants
at the annual event.
Of the total 55 OFID and OPEC contestants, five ran
the full marathon, four the half marathon, six the junior
marathon, eight the kids’ challenge, and 31 the relay
event.
The fastest relay team — Finance — which comprised
Wolfgang Novak, Yassien Shaban, Saeid Niazi and Zsolt
Fenyvesi, all of OFID, completed the course in an impressive
time of 3 hours 39 minutes.
Meanwhile, individually, Veronika Kretzer (wife of
Gerry Doyle of OFID) finished the full marathon in a highly
respectable 3 hours 42 minutes. And this was just two
months after giving birth to her second son.
Other highlights saw Maria Tagger of OFID save her
below-strength team to run two consecutive legs — 16.1
km, followed by 5.7 km — while colleague Barrak Alqallaf
ran 9.1 km in an amazing time of 1 hour 1 minute, and
this despite not a single day’s training.
Bayo Babajide
The 38 staff and family member runners just from OFID had
plenty of support on the day. A specially trained group of cheerleaders,
the brainchild of the OFID Social Committee, went through its
paces on carefully planned stages of the run. Armed with drums,
pom-poms and whistles, they made their presence felt and provided
great motivation for their participating colleagues.
The day was not just about personal achievement, but also an
awareness that people were running in support of the longstanding
OFID cause of poverty alleviation. Weeks of planning and training went
into the event with eight relay teams registered to run under the OFID
banner.
OFID’s chief coach and organizer, Rafik Elouardi, a former runner
himself, stated: “The success of the event was entirely the result of
colleagues’ determination and enthusiasm and the great team spirit
generated by the OFID family.”
Apres-run celebrations were held in OFID’s splendid VIP tent
and as the runners gathered for a group photo, The Fund’s Director,
IT Unit, Deyaa Alkhateeb, summed up everybody’s feelings when he
said: “This was a truly magnificent day. I am proud of all our runners
and all the people that came to support them.”
OPEC bulletin 6/08
51