A total of 23 women runners attended the first national Hormuz Half Marathon Cup for women in Hormuz Island, Hormozgan Province, February 15.
According to the website of Iran Athletics Federation, running the 21km and 96m distance in one hour, 26 minutes and 55 seconds, Parisa Arab from Tehran finished first and set the very first record for a domestic women's half marathon race.
Zeinab Mansouri from Fars Province finished second and Afsaneh Faridi from Khorasan Razavi Province was third.
Winners of first to third places received gold coins with four gold coins going to the first winner. The second and third places received three and two coins respectively.
The fourth edition of Hormoz Marathon Cup for men was held in Hormuz Island on February 16 and Mohammad-Jafar Moradi won the race by running the distance in two hours, 26 minutes and 43 seconds.
Sports federations in the country have started expanding the sporting fields for women in recent months.
Earlier in February, the Weightlifting Federation held the first ever round of competition for women to select the best for the national team.
The federation also established its department for women in December and held the first national classic wrestling games.
As all the three sporting events have been received warmly by women athletes in the provinces, other federations are also expected to prepare the grounds for women to take part in sports in which only men attended.
