2020 Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon Presser, Part 4/4: Jessica Kodan, Manager, Events and Community Engagement, Dubai Holding

Jessica Kodan, Manager, Events and Community Engagement, Dubai Holding, photo by Larry Eder

The success of the Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon is many fold. The race is one of the fastest and most competitive races on the planet for elite athletes. The 4k, 10k, and marathons give athletes, fast and slow, old and young, new to the sport and old to the sport, a chance to compete on a fast and gentle course, in the most running favorable weather, at the most running favorable time, in the Middle East.

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But, in my mind, what is fascinating the is minor miracle that sponsor Dubai Holdings has done. In 2019, 200 Emerati women ran in one of the featured events in the Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon events of 4k, 10k, marathon and wheelchair marathon. That was a 21 percent increase over 2018.

Dubai Holding, the company that invests in the UAE, and has many of the most amazing buildings in Dubai under their ownership and management, uses the Dubai Marathon as a way to instill fitness ideals and pride in the local Emerati community.

Dubai Holding has ambitious goals, as both Jessica Kodan and Khalid Al Malik noted, ” We look forward to seeing record numbers of Emirati’s on the start line on Friday and hope that one day, the winner of the full marathon will be a UAE National.”

We thank Jessica Kodan for her time and the discussion on the success of the Emirati participation program. The interview is positive and informative. It was great to see a company at Dubai Holding, a major sponsor of the Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon.

Author

Larry Eder
Larry Eder has had a 52-year involvement in the sport of athletics. Larry has experienced the sport as an athlete, coach, magazine publisher, and now, journalist and blogger. His first article, on Don Bowden, America's first sub-4 minute miler, was published in RW in 1983. Larry has published several magazines on athletics, from American Athletics to the U.S. version of Spikes magazine. He currently manages the content and marketing development of the RunningNetwork, The Shoe Addicts, and RunBlogRun. Of RunBlogRun, his daily pilgrimage with the sport, Larry says: "I have to admit, I love traveling to far away meets, writing about the sport I love, and the athletes I respect, for my readers at runblogrun.com, the most of anything I have ever done, except, maybe running itself." Also does some updates for BBC Sports at key events, which he truly enjoys. Theme song: Greg Allman, " I'm no Angel."
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