TEHRAN // Women will be forced to run separately from men in what has been described as Tehran’s first international marathon on Friday, a senior Iranian sports official said, as the participation of Americans remained uncertain.
Just two days before the TehRUN race, Majid Keyhani, the head of Iran’s track and field federation, still could not confirm whether Americans would participate, which countries at all would be represented or if visas had been issued to all participants.
The website for the race on Wednesday listed 28 Americans among the registered runners, along with participants from more than 40 countries, including the UK and Canada. It describes the run as an opportunity for “building bridges, breaking barriers”.
“We have sent all runner names to Iran’s foreign ministry for issuing visas,” said Mr Keyhani on Wednesday, cautioning that the process could “take time”.
At least 160 foreign runners, including 50 women, have signed up. But Mr Keyhani said only the men will be allowed to race in the streets of Tehran – the women will have to race separately, inside the Azadi sports complex.
More than 600 Iranian runners, including 156 women, are expected to participate.
The race is being organised in large part by Dutch entrepreneur Sebastiaan Straten and his travel agency, Iran Silk Road. He expected Americans to be able to participate and said most of the registered runners have received visas.
“TehRUN is a run for international friendship and to promote street running to a large, young Iranian population,” he said. “Iranians are one of the most hospitable people in the world and I am sure the crowd will show that on Friday to the runners.”
He opposed the decision to segregate women from men for the race, however.
“Personally I do not agree with that and we are trying to find other ways to make steps forward for female running in Iran,” he said.
Since the 1979 revolution, Iran has required women to wear the Islamic headscarf and to only show their face, hands and feet in public. They are typically not allowed to participate in sporting events outside of enclosed facilities, ensuring they are not seen by men.
The race website tells women they are required to wear a headscarf or sports bandanna that covers their hair. It also encourages them to wear long-sleeve T-shirts that cover their hips and to avoid shorts or skirts.
“In general dress modestly to respect local customs and religion,” it says.
Any spectators cheering the female runners on Friday will certainly be women. Female Iranian athletes have missed many international competitions since the revolution because clerical authorities disapprove of them being viewed by male spectators.
Female sports fans in turn are traditionally barred from attending male-only sporting events in Iran on similar grounds, but many women are pushing to change that practice.
Mr Keyhani made a point of referring to the event as a “Persian run” rather than a marathon, although the length of the longest race is 42 kilometres – roughly the length of an official marathon.
The course takes runners from the Azadi football stadium through the normally traffic-clogged streets of western parts of the Iranian capital, past the University of Tehran to Ferdowsi Square, a popular spot for the city’s money-changers.
There are also shorter men’s courses of 10 and 21 kilometres.
No professional runners are expected to participate this year, Mr Keyhani said, but he expressed hope they would in the future.
The event follows a similar run a year ago near the Iranian city of Shiraz, south of Tehran. That race drew more than 70 international participants, none of them American.
No women were allowed to officially take part in last year’s race. But two Iranian women, Masoumeh Torabi and Elham Manoocheri, nonetheless ran the race separately from the men in protest and are recognised on the race organisers’ website.
* Associated Press
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
