Athletics was not among the priorities of Chakib Lachgar when, without yet turning 18, he left Morocco clinging to the bottom of a truck with the illusion of arriving in Europe to work. Now, eleven years later, that young man savors the honeys of triumph after winning the Behobia-San Sebastián last Sunday.

A victory that Chakib manages with modesty and feet on the ground, after the "many lessons" learned in his almost 30 years and an extensive vital journey behind him that brought him to Spain from his native Morocco, to move to Germany afterwards Belgium later , until, as he recalls in an interview with EFE, he finally decided to settle again in our country.

The childhood of the brand-new winner of the 55 Behobia-San Sebastián began in the small Maghreb town of Ouargui from which he left, after leaving school, to "seek life" in Tangier, where, among other occupations. He worked as a pastry chef until he decided to travel to Europe.

According to the report, it initially occurred to him to do it in a patera , but he had to give up because "they were asking for money" and since he is not "rich", he decided to try his luck for his "account" grabbed at the bottom of a truck.

"I tried four times"

"I thought: one day I'm going to get in the bottom of a truck, but there came a time when I decided to do it. I tried four times and they all returned me from Algeciras , but the fifth one went well and I arrived in Spain" , remember naturally.

"I have had to spend seven hours in the basement of a truck, from Algeciras to Alicante, " recalls without epic the champion, determined to downplay his dangerous adventure.

"He was a kid who was not the first time he left home, he was looking for my life and I already knew what he was doing. I do not regret anything and if I returned time ago I would do it again without problems," said Chakib. "I had not yet turned 18. After some time in the truck you don't feel or hunger, it's like going in a race - he describes - you're stripping and you're in another world, you don't think."

Endeavored to downplay his adventure, the young athlete, who is currently in the process to achieve Spanish nationality , does not hide his rejection of ideas against immigration from Vox.

Against Vox

"It seems very bad to me. I don't know why they won't let us out and yet others can go without any problem to another country and cross with their passport. I don't know why they put these restrictions," he describes.

After being able to legalize his situation in our country and work for a while as a pastry chef in Errenteria (Gipuzkoa) , the closure of his company due to the crisis led him to emigrate again to Germany, where a partner encouraged him to train and run, a hobby he welcomed with pleasure because he had always been an athlete and that led him to be second in a mountain race.

Completely "hooked up" to athletics, Chakib then tried his luck in Belgium, but finally returned to the Basque Country to renew his papers, started running in a club, where he was licensed, and began to compete, after what he has been getting results "every year, little by little".

The young athlete, framed in the Alcampo Scorpio 71 Zaragoza, has won tests such as the Spanish Short Cross Championship, the Spanish Championship of 3,000 meters and now the Behobia-San Sebastián, one of the main popular long distance races of Spain, achievement of which is "very happy".

At the same time, Chakib continues with his studies to professionally progress that, paradoxes of fate, have led him to do a heavy vehicle chauffeur workshop that, with a little luck, will allow him to close the circle that leads from the ground floor to the truck cabin .

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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  • Spain
  • Morocco
  • Europe
  • Belgium
  • Germany
  • Basque Country
  • Alicante
  • sports

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