UAE distance runner and Asian Games gold medallist Alia Mohammed Saeed has given the Dubai Holding Women’s Run a major boost by confirming her participation in this year’s event.

Alia won the 10,000 metres in South Korea last month, taking 40 seconds off her national record in the process.

Over 6,000 participants are expected to make up the field for the fifth staging of the event on Friday, November 7.

Race director Liesa Euton said: “I am excited to see such a large number of registrants and want to encourage more women to join us on November 7.

“Dubai Holding Women’s Run has established itself as a major sports event in the regional calendar, with runners traveling from far and wide to take part.”

Dubai Holding is contributing prize money totalling Dh90,000 annually for the event as part of a five-year Dh5 million agreement with the UAE Athletics Federation to position the race as Dubai’s official women’s international run.

Cedric Betis, Chairman of Dubai Holding Wellness Committee, said: “The Dubai Holding Women’s Run supports the Government’s initiative to encourage healthy living in UAE and our sponsorship demonstrates our commitment to further spreading our ‘wellness’ message’ to the wider community.

"We are proud to be investing in our community by supporting events like this that empower women and enc-ourage them to live an active life.”

Registration will be open until 1 November 2014, and can be completed on the race website: www.dubaiwomensrun.com.