Win two ‘San Silvestre’ in Asturias and ‘celebrate’ it with a night of work

Taking into account the balances that he was forced to make to balance everything, even the Gijón-Oviedo double from Mohamed Bakkali (Tangier, Morocco, 2-26-95) in the ‘San Silvestre’ of 2021 it seems like a minor matter. Because he could not go to celebrate it as he deserved, or to rest soundly during New Year’s Eve. After raising her arms for the second time in just an hour and a half, Moha only had time to go home in Pola de Siero, take a shower, have dinner and report to her work. And yesterday, after a training to loosen the legs, repetition of the play.

In order for her sporting goal to become a reality, Moha Bakkali had to have the complicity of a colleague in a juvenile center, where she works as an educational assistant.. “I changed the shift because if I had not been able to run,” the athlete told La Nueva España, a newspaper of the same group, Prensa Ibérica, that this newspaper, after a few hours of sleep. “I entered at 9.30 at night and left at 8.30 in the morning. It was a tute, but it was the only option I had ”.

Now he knows that it was worth it because he was able to finish the task that had been pending for three years. “I am a more experienced athlete, with more wisdom. In 2018 I made some mistakes that I can now correct. And, above all, the state of form, which is much better. In Gijón I gave everything to beat Benkert and I planted myself in Oviedo with the strength that I had left. He knew it would be more of a mental than a physical matter. And at no point did my head tell me stop, stop it now. ”

The plan to consummate the double came out to order: “I divided the Oviedo race into two parts. The first was from the start to the Auditorium, which was the complicated section. He knew if he got there with two percent power he would have a chance. That’s how it went. I was going to play it one-on-one with Alejandro Onís, who is a very tough rival, an international two weeks ago. It was very difficult to beat him. I was able to give the last push with 400 meters to go and continued to the finish trusting myself, without fear. If he was second, fine, and if he won, chapeu ”.

In addition to sports, the logistics also worked very well, with the help of its sponsor, the Riesgo Vialás legal department: “I had everything well organized, with a taxi waiting for me at 5.30 in the Plaza del Ayuntamiento de Gijón. By 6 o’clock I was in Oviedo, with what I was able to eat, drink, regain strength and even warm up a bit. So I faced the Oviedo race with more energy and strength than in 2018, when I arrived only fifteen minutes earlier ”. The emergencies prevented him from staying at the Gijón trophy ceremony: “A colleague picked it up. I want to apologize to the organization, but I hope they understand me. It was impossible to be on both sides ”.

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Moha Bakkali was happy yesterday, although he clarifies that the double was never an obsession for him: “I dedicate myself to something else, track athletics, where I scratch every second circling for my great goal, which is the 3,000 hurdles test. But this lends me a lot because I proposed it, it gives a lot of impact and it is something spectacular to achieve. On Sunday I did not give it so much value, but now, with the lower heart rate, I do see that it is something spectacular and very complicated ”.

“It relieves because it was a thorn that had stuck, but I do not think I will try again,” acknowledges Bakkali, who at this moment of happiness wanted to remember his coach, Marcos Peón, who preceded him in the feat of the Gijón-Oviedo double. He also dedicated it to his previous coach, David Méndez, “who was the person who made me take the leap in quality as an athlete, thanks to his work and dedication.”