It was the hardest thing I've done, but also the thing I've enjoyed the most because of the good atmosphere there. If I finished, it was because of the people's encouragement, when there were 16 kilometers left to reach the end I considered folding, but thanks to the public I reached the finish line", comments, exultantly, Ismail Errifaiy, days after completing the Barcelona marathon . Ismail is an outstanding young man who has been preparing for this test for the last few 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 explains that he ended 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, shares a flat with some friends in La Trinitat Vella and two or three days a week he goes running around Barcelona. On Sunday the 19th he put in 3h42m40s, but he thinks that if he had been fine, if he hadn't suffered from a muscle overload injury that forced him to walk for a while, he might have come closer to his three o'clock dream hours.
The architect of Enforma Inspira is Shahid Ashraf, who left Pakistan when he was a minor and who spent a year in Catalonia in a reception center of the General Directorate of Child and Adolescent Care (Dgaia) . To Xahid, sport, and specifically mountain racing, has given him a lot. Climbing peaks, he has met people of great importance in his life and he wants to pass on his passion for this world to underprivileged boys like him.
"Now between 20 and 25 young people come to train, we usually 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 it," explains Shahid. This particular club also organizes an outing in the 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 look for scholarships thanks to the support of Escola Pia de Sarrià", adds Shahid.
Allidu, 21 years old, who arrived in Barcelona at 17 from Nkurakan, in the south of Ghana, completed his marathon in 3h39m04s. "I used to play with the ball and now I run, I like it because it's a way of meet new people Crossing the finish line I felt great satisfaction and called my uncle, who has a football club in my country", he says. Allidu works as a welder in Badalona and studies a higher degree in metal constructions.
Mamadou Kadame is the oldest of the group, he is 33 years old, he is following 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 a lot of joy", explains this young Senegalese who achieved a time of 4h02m01s.
