• Valencia Ben Daoud Marathon equals Spain's record

Hamid

Ben Daoud

sprinted across the footbridge over the lake of the City of Arts and Sciences in

Valencia to

applause to achieve a dream of being the fastest man in Spain in a marathon. The life line led him again to walk on the waters, this time not those of the Strait hidden in the underside of a truck, but those that led him to achieve a mark of 2:06:35 that places him in front of the national elite with 25 years. This was his sixth marathon, but before that there were 100 meters, 800, then 1,500 and 3,000 until reaching the long distance tests. All accelerated because it was the basis of their subsistence.

Ben Daoud was born

Er-Rachidía

, in southern Morocco. In 2010 the challenge for the kids without much of a future was to try to cross into Spain and he did it in 2010. Hidden in the trailer of a bus, he left the port of Nador for Algeciras. He arrived with nothing, but some compatriots bought him clothes and a bus ticket to Bilbao.

“They told me that migrants were treated well. The truth is that I didn't even know where Bilbao was

,

Ben Daoud told El Mundo a few days before making his debut with Spain at the 2019 Cross World Championship.

He ended up in the

Zabaloetxe

center for minors

, in Loiu, 12 kilometers from Bilbao. It was his great luck. Although he had to fight with the Justice, which wanted to determine that he was born in 1993 and that, therefore, he was not 14 years old but was on the verge of coming of age and expulsion, the elite athlete who is today was born there . In Zabaloetxe everyone studies (he did an average degree in Climatology) and they practice some sport. There are two federated soccer teams and one athletics team coordinated by

Hassan Reddad

, who led Hamid from futsal to racing. Its objective is not to train champions "but to transmit values ​​to them and promote integration and coexistence". But the reality that they have managed to make some pearls shine that are giving joy to the country that welcomed them.

The first was

Abdelaziz Merzougui

, European junior cross-country champion in 2010 and under-23 of 3,000 meters hurdles in 2013, who has competed for the first time in this edition of the Valencia Marathon with a time of 2:08:52.

Lamdassem

Ben Daoud

made his debut in the 42.2 kilometers in the capital of Turia in 2017 with a time of 2:10:21 only within reach then of Javi Guerra.

He was 21 years old and 26 days later, he swore the Constitution as a Spaniard and an elite marathoner.

His progression has been on the rise since then. Settled between Bilbao, Calvià and Marrakech, he was bronze with Spain in the 2019 European Cross in Lisbon and in 2020, again in Valencia, he managed to be the second best national athlete with 2:07:03, thus achieving the third best mark of history and the minimum to be in the Tokyo Games.

This Sunday in Valencia he saw the opportunity to make a little more hole in history.

Who defines himself as "a man of the desert who risked his life to earn a living", who combines his preparation with the fulfillment of Ramadan, sprinted in the last meters to share the record of Spain

Ayad Lamdassem

, another Moroccan who sought refuge in Spain after defect in a Junior World Championship in Santiago de Compostela.

He knocked him down a year ago, with 30, after 14 without anyone succeeding.

In just 12 months, it has already fallen twice.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

Know more

  • Morocco

  • sports

New York Marathon Korir leaves Bekele expired in New York

LaLiga Who is Ilias Akhomach, the 17-year-old pearl who surprised Xavi in ​​the first eleven?

AthleticsPistorius will be eligible for parole if he meets with his victim's parents

See links of interest

  • Last News

  • Translator

  • What

  • Holidays 2021

  • 2022 business calendar

  • Home THE WORLD today

  • Master investigative journalism

  • China - Spain, live

  • Napoli - Atalanta

  • Casademont Zaragoza - Real Madrid

  • Real Sociedad - Real Madrid

  • Lens - Paris Saint-Germain