First, third and last

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EGYPT played host to the third and final stage of its inaugural world speed boat endurance championship

For the first time in Egypt, the River Nile hosted a world class power boating event. On Friday and Saturday, competitors from around the world raced in the last stage of the World Endurance Championship 2008.

In central Cairo, along the world's longest river, the high performance powerboats raced throughout the day on Friday from 8am to 4pm as onlookers gathered along the river banks and bridges to watch the first time event.

The eight-hour race was launched under the patronage of the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism, the governorate of Cairo and the Egyptian Sailing and Water Ski Federation. It was under the aegis of the UIM (Union Internationale Motonautique).

The first stage of the World Championship takes place along the Seine River in Rouen in northern France from 31 April to 1 May every year since the end of World War II. Fifty-six boats participated in the first stage this year, including 22 belonging to Class1, 20 boats Class2 and 14 boats Class3.

The second stage of the 24-hour endurance (eight hours in each country) took place in Poland on 12 July. Only 32 boats reached the second stage. The third and last stage, in Egypt for the first time, 10 boats from France, England, The Netherlands, United States and Norway contributed.

French competitors took home the bulk of the medals in the inaugural Egyptian leg of the historic race.

The class 1, 2 and 3 winners in the race were French -- Esigelec, Navikart and Pegase respectively, all of whom gathered with the runners-up to celebrate at the awards ceremony.

At the awards ceremony on Saturday, Hamid Mahmoud Abu Sammad, one of the organisers, said it was only a matter of time before Arab teams began participating in the race.

"These expensive sports always reach us late, first because they're expensive, and second, because they are not practised in Egypt. And any new sport here is introduced by foreign players. But within a few years Egyptians, as well as other Arabs, join as well," Abu Sammad said.

Most of the participants in Egypt's first major power boat race complemented the organisers on pulling off the complex logistical feat of organising an endurance race, and said they hoped to be back next year for another shot at the crown.

Egypt was included in the list of countries in which the stages of the race are held after several years of hard lobbying by the Union Internationale Motonautique (UIM), the French sponsors, and Echinops, the Egyptian event's organisers.