On April 9, Iran's Naqsh-e Rustam, an approximately 3,000-year-old necropolis, received a rare jolt of animation. Under a large, inflatable starting arch and to the tune of loud Iranian pop music, 158 male runners from around the world set forth on I run Iran, the country's first marathon.

But two hours before the starting gun, two women—Masoumeh Torabi, 42, of Tehran, and a woman identified as Elham on the race site—started their own race in protest of a rule that disallowed females to participate in the inaugural event.

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Two women run unofficially on the sideline of the marathon "I run Iran" pic.twitter.com/MoDcXDCQdG — Bahar Shoghi (@baharshoghi) April 9, 2016

In 2015, after race organizer Sebastian Straten got official approval, local authorities announced that women would not be allowed to run.

Women still applied on the I run Iran website, but received emailed rejections. In response, the would-be entrants contacted Stephanie Case, an ultramarathoner, United Nations worker in Gaza, and the founder of Free to Run, an organization that teaches girls empowerment through athletics in conflict-affected communities.

When Case applied and received her own rejection, she contacted Straten directly, according to her blog, ultrarunnergirl.com. She asked him to reconsider holding the race unless women could participate.

“By running a male-only event, this perpetuates discriminatory beliefs against women,” she wrote, citing the UN’s cancellation of the 2013 Gaza Marathon when Hamas banned women from participating.

The slogan on the website for the marathon, “Real men run Iran,” raised further ire among the international female running community. After the UK’s Telegraph ran an article about the upcoming race last December, Case took her dispute public, calling for a boycott of I run Iran.

Instead of joining the call for a boycott, Torabi lobbied the Amateur Athletic Federation of Islamic Republic of Iran (IRIAAF) for permission to run but start two hours ahead of the other runners as a Free to Run ambassador.

She finished in about five hours. Both she and Elham received official finisher medals.

Torabi used the marathon to train for next month's Iranian Silk Road Ultramarathon, which does allow women. “I want to expand sports in my country,” she said after the race. “We can do anything through sports for peace, for friendship, and for helping [others].”

Straten, who owns the travel agency Iran Silk Road, said that he and the I run Iran organization not only accepted the participation of Manoochehri and Torabi, but also encouraged the Athletic Federation to endorse it. “Both have shown and proven that Iranian women can run in Iran,” he wrote in an email after the event. “We hope many Iranian women will follow in their footsteps in next editions!”

Children cheer runners on as they make their way from Persepolis back to Shiraz. MehrNews.com, Amin Berenjkar

After the women, male runners made their way along a flat road to the industrial center of Marydasht then turned back at Persepolis. Along the course, kids waved Iranian flags and held homemade signs written in English that read, “Welcome to Iran” and “Iran is the safest country of the world.”

Farzollah Rustami from the city of Qazvin took the lead and finished in 2:46, followed by fellow Iranian runners Mohammad Faraji in 2:48 and Abdulrahman Mirzaei in 2:56.

“God helped me a lot to win—my parents were praying for me when I was running,” said Rustami, a member of the national team of Iran, who has run marathons in Dubai, India, Kyrgystan, Malaysia, and Russia. “All Iranian people want to show their peace and friendship to everyone and to emphasize that we are peaceful people—that we are not terrorists.”

Farzollah Rustami, raised the Iranian flag in celebration of his win. MehrNews.com, Amin Berenjkar

Iran has one participant preparing for the 2016 Summer Olympics marathon. Many runners say this is indicative of the country’s lack of running culture.

Straten, who has operated his tourism agency in Iran for the past 10 years, said the idea to host a marathon came to him from a client who asked about road races in the country.

When Straten couldn’t find any, he decided to put one together himself. “We had to explain the idea and then explain to the Athletic Federation what exactly a marathon is. It was completely new to them.”

Despite the controversy, Straten believes that his intended mission to “unite humanity” was a success.

“We brought together a group of people from many different countries to show that Iran is a country full of colors, a dynamic country,” he said.

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