Jelagat (1st), Samira Raif (2nd) Hong Kong Marathon 2011

Note:

If you are keen and have queries, please contact Coach Rameshon at 9100 4369 or you can email him at m.rameshon@gmail.com or swift.rameshon@gmail.com. Please refer to website http://flexifitness.com.sg (for more information on him and his programmes)

By Rameshon

Bsc (Hons) Degree in Physical Education, Loughborough University (1992-1994)

Masters in Education (University of Western Australia, 2005-2008)

Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon 2011 (Women's Race)

Samira Raif - From Morocco, does a personal best time 2hr 33min 50sec

Samira Raif, who had an earlier personal best time of 2hr 36min 46sec smashed her personal best time to 2hr 33min 50sec, considering the torturous highway of upslopes and downslopes. Yesterday, she told me she was taking 2hr 36min as a target. Samira is also a very friendly athlete who conversed with me and Ashley. Their team manager's name was Rashid who looked after Moudouji Hammou, the male runner from Morocco. Moudouji came in 5th position while Nelson Kirwa Rotich (from Kenya) finished with a time of 2hr 16min 00sec to claim the first position for men.  Nelson missed the course record which was 2hr 13min 09sec. In the women's race, Rono Janey Jelagat (from Kenya) won the race doing a time of 2hr 33min 42sec. Samira just lost to Jelagat by 8secs.

Picture 1 - Kenya's Janey Jelagat pipping Morocco's Samira Raif for women's first place.

Anne Date of Singapore came in with a commendable time of 2hr 56min, far better than her previous run a few years back which was 3hr 01min done in Hong Kong.

Picture 2 - This is an inspirational photo of Samira giving everything she had got for the race.

Samira Raif of Morocco outsprinted the third runner Legesse Meseret from Ethiopia, who was one of the favourites to win the race, towards the end of the race with limited training. She gave her 100% and only started walking after finishing the race, limping seriously until I had to shout for the first-aid to help.

With that let us hear from the Samira Raif on the performance which saw her coming in second for Morocco and doing a personal best time.

An Interview With Samira Raif

Can you tell me your personal best timing for the long-distance events?

I was all the time running middle distance events before moving up to long-distance events like the marathon.

These are my middle distance timing.

800m - 2m 04s

1500m - 4min 10s

3000m - 9min 16s

Then what happened?

I took up marathon and started to race in 10km and half-marathon races.

The marathon races are given below.

2008 - Casablanca Marathon - 2hr 38min 18sec, Korea  Marathon - 2hr 39min 01sec

2009 - Casablanca Marathon - 2hr 41sec (very hot),

2010 - Ottawa Marathon - 3rd position 2hr 36min

What about your personal best time for the 10km and Half - marathon?

10km - 32min 36sec

half - 1hr 11min 10sec

marathon - 2hr 36min 47sec (Ottawa Marathon, 2010)

What is your age now?

I am 37 years old 

Are you married?

No.

What is your profession?

I am working as a High school teacher, teaching 15 years to 19-year-old children. I teach Physical Education.

How was the competition during the race?

There were 5 other female elite athletes until we reached 32km. It was competitive, changing gears and positions throughout for us 6 top runners. At 36km mark, the Ethiopian athletes pushed the pace. Until 39km, we were left with a Kenyan, an Ethiopian, and myself. I was third then. At 40km, Ethiopian runner Legesse Meseret suddenly opened up to go for it. The Kenyan was first, followed by Meseret and myself then. At the last kilometre, I started to make my move by giving out my strength and energy for this and overtook the Ethiopian runner.  The Kenyan runner Rono Janey Jelagat came in 1st, and I came in 2nd, with the Ethiopian runner coming in third. 

Picture 3 -  Ethiopian runner Legesse Meseret eventually finished slightly behind Samira for the second runner-up position.

Tell us something about your daily training.

I don't really have the time to train much. I train once per day. It is good to train more but there is not enough time for me to do it.

How do you find the Hong Kong marathon route?

I find the route very challenging, consisting of a lot of highway with up slopes and down slopes. I am very surprised that I can do a personal best time. After the route orientation, I was telling myself to aim for a 2hr 36min in order to get a realistic timing considering the torturous uphills and downhills.

How do you find the weather conditions?

Very windy and rainy.

What is your long term goal?

I would like to go for a 2hr 27min which is my dream time.

Note:

By Narayanan

Rameshon has taught in Hwa Chong Institution, plus several schools, and Republic Polytechnic as well. He has won many accolades and he was awarded Merit Award for 1991 marathon performance in breaking the national record of Singapore, at that time. He has made 22 male athletes do a marathon in sub-3hrs. He has made 7 female runners do sub-4 hours for the marathon, as well. He was inducted to the ‘Roll of Honour’  by the then College of Physical Education, organised by Singapore Olympic Academy, in 1998, for breaking the National record repeatedly 4 times, till he did 2hr 24min 22sec).

He also has a Coaching group and he trains them on Tuesdays and Thursdays, 7pm at Botanic Gardens. Those interested can call him at 91004369 for coaching assistance, to improve performance. There is also personal training that he does for many in a week. You can e-mail him at swift.rameshon@gmail.com.