Gulf Times
TERENGGANU, Malaysia: A jubilant Qatar team proudly took to the podium on Sunday as they received medals and a trophy for their second-place team finish in the World Endurance Championship held in Terengganu, Malaysia on Friday and Saturday.
Despite overnight rainstorms and periodic lightning the weather or the 160 km course could not stop the Qatar Endurance Team as they finished a mere 48 seconds behind the winning United Arab Emirates team. The final team times were UAE, 27:57:59 and Qatar, 28:47:17. Bahrain was hard pressed to take third over Portugal with a time of 30:54:22 to 30:58:52.
The championship consisted of 22 teams and 140 riders that competed overnight as it was the first-ever World Endurance Championships to be contested in the darkness of night.
The six-member Qatar team is made up of riders that annually compete for Al Shaqab, a member of the Qatar Foundation. Scoring for the Qatar team was headed by veteran Mohammed Atta Beer who paced the group with a time of 9:34:38 to finish 11th overall.
He was followed by Faleh Nasser Abugnaim, 9:34:39 in 12th and Mohammed Sultan al-Suwaidi, 9:38:00 in 13th. Team members that were eliminated from competition during the gruelling event included Abulla Towaim al-Marri, Khalid Sanad al-Nuaimi and Mohammed Tahous al-Nuaimi.