ASPIRE student athlete Mohamed Saleh Idriss, 18, belied his youth and inexperience last week when he recorded a ninth place finish in an international half-marathon field in Geneva, Switzerland, despite the fact that it was the first time he had ever competed at the distance.
A time of 1 hour 14 minutes for the 13 mile event placed Idriss first in the junior section and encouraged his coach, Carlos Cavalheiro, that the decision to switch focus from 5,000 and 10,000 track running to road racing was a sound one. Two solid months of planning preceded the race after discussions between coaches and sport science experts at the Academy concluded the change was in Idriss’s interest.
‘He was identified as having potential in a longer race for a number of reasons,’ explains Cavalheiro. ‘Firstly the biomechanics aspect – he has a small stride with a good frequency; his knees during the strides stay very low and this is good for road racing but less so for track. On the track when you are wearing spikes you have to lift your knees higher.’
Further testing showed a very high VO2 max, a measurement of how much oxygen is transferred to the blood, again hinting at an aptitude for competing over greater distances.
In addition to his natural physical characteristics, Idriss showed incredible dedication and determination in the weeks leading up to the race and his hard work ultimately paid off.
‘He had a small problem in his Achilles at this time,’ explains Cavalheiro, ‘so he went everyday to see the physios, who did a very good job with him. Then he stayed for two weeks only in the gym and on the bikes.
‘That is what makes the result such an impressive one as for the two weeks leading up to the race he was only training on the bikes. He came in every single day – including Friday and Saturday - putting in around 1 hour 30 minutes on the bike, maybe 32 or 35 kilometres each day.
As high up the placings as fifth after 18 kilometres, Idriss dropped four positions in the hills, Qatar’s flat terrain offering little in the way of like for like preparation runs. Nonetheless his run was enough to earn him a trophy – but he was so tired at the end of the gruelling race that he forgot to collect it.
‘My coach told me just to go and enjoy myself and not to think too much about the race,’ says Idriss. ‘Because of this I was able to run freely. At the end of the race I was very tired but I enjoyed the race. It was a good feeling. I would like to take part in more of these longer races.’
Looking to the future the aim is to have the promising youngster compete in a number of similar distance races over the remainder of this year and next, before stepping up to the full marathon distance after that.
‘It will take time to move on from a half marathon to a full marathon distance,’ cautions Cavalheiro. ‘But for the first attempt a time of 1 hour 14 is very good, especially as he is still a junior.
‘There were around 3,000 participants in the race and he finished ninth. I told him just to have fun because it was his first experience. And he did very, very well.’
About ASPIRE
ASPIRE, the Academy for Sports Excellence, Doha, was created with the dual aims of identifying and transforming promising student athletes into world renowned champions across a wide range of sports and to act as a beacon to draw sporting culture into the centre of life in Qatar and the surrounding region.
The Academy is distinguished by a philosophy which aims to develop the whole student, providing them with full academic, social and sporting development.
Unrivalled facilities mark the Academy out as one of the world’s foremost sporting and educational institutions, and entice an ever increasing number of visitors from across the spectrum of world sports to use or simply view them.
With one indoor and seven outdoor football pitches, athletics tracks, an Olympic-sized swimming pool, diving pool, combat arenas, gymnastics arena, specially designed weight rooms, lecture halls, dormitories to accommodate what will eventually become 1,000 students, a medical centre and more besides, much beneath the world’s largest purpose built indoor sports dome, every aspect of the development of elite athletes is catered for. ASPIRE is a place for those who dare to dream.
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