"It was the hardest thing I've ever done, but also what I've enjoyed the most because of the great atmosphere that was in the air. If I finished it was because of the encouragement of the people, with 16 kilometers to go I considered leaving but thanks to the public I reached the finish line ", comments Ismail Errifaiy exultantly, days after completing the Barcelona marathon. Ismail is a young ex-supervisor who has been preparing for this test in recent months with other colleagues from the Enforma Inspira club, an initiative that aims to promote the integration of boys from other countries through sport.
Ismail tells that he finished his migratory journey in Barcelona when he was only 15 years old and that now, at 20, he has already managed to become independent. He works in a commercial area dedicated to sports, he shares a flat with several friends in the Trinitat Vella and two or three days a week he jogs around Barcelona. On Sunday the 19th he invested 3h42m40s but he thinks that if he had been well, if he had not suffered from a muscle overload injury that forced him to walk at times, perhaps he would have come close to his three-hour dream.
The architect of Enforma Inspira is Shahid Ashraf, who left Pakistan as a minor and who in Catalonia spent a year in a reception center of the General Directorate for Child and Adolescent Care (Dgaia). Sport, and specifically mountain races, have given Shahid a lot. In the mountains he has met people of great importance in his life and he wants to pass on his passion for this world to ex-guardians like him.
“Now between 20 and 25 young people come to train, we used to go out along the coast of Barcelona. Of these, three prepared for their first marathon, Ismail, from Morocco; Allidu Adamu, from Ghana, and Mamadou Kadame, from Senegal. The three of them finished”, explains Shahid. This particular club also organizes an outing in spring and another in May to clean the paths and forests of Collserola.
“We ask everyone who comes what they want to do in life, if they want to continue studying. We encourage them to do so and if necessary we help them find scholarships thanks to the support of the Escola Pia de Sarrià”, adds Shahid.
Allidu, 21, who came to Barcelona at 17 from Nkurakan, in southern Ghana, completed his marathon in 3h39m04s. “Before I played with the ball and now I run, I like it because it's a way to meet new people. When I crossed the finish line, I felt great satisfaction and called my uncle, who has a soccer club in my country”, he indicates. Allidu works as a welder in Badalona and studies a superior degree in metallic constructions.
Mamadou Kadame is the oldest of the group, he has turned 33, is taking a programming course and is waiting to get the papers. "I suffered but I will do other marathons, being able to finish has given me great joy", says this young Senegalese who signed a time of 4h02m01s.
