Syrian expatriate runner Imad Barakat ranked second in Dubai Desert Road Run for the category of 60 –year-old with a widespread participation of runners from around the world
Runner Barakat was born in Damascus in 1963 and moved to live in Slovakia carrying its nationality, but still insists to represent his homeland name, Syria, at the international marathons and to raise the Syrian flag in all competetions
Barakat attained many achievements, most notably world championship title in 2013 for Marathon of the Sands in Morocco (Sahara Marathon) for a distance of 250 km, which has been regarded as the toughest foot race on Earth
He also ranked second in world championship in Oman Desert Marathon for a distance of 165 km