February 2017 22 www.womanthismonth.com PEOPLE | interview Hannah Al Khalifa, 26, was the first Bahraini woman past the post. Born to a Bahraini father and a Scottish mother, she was living in London and moved to the island in September 2015, which is when she took up competition seriously. A freelancer in architectural design, she says: “I’ve always been very sporty and just decided to give it a go. I was the fifth Bahraini woman to finish last year; this year I was first!” Rana Al Alawi, 24, is the baby of the bunch and was the second Bahraini woman finisher. A lawyer working with Batelco, this was her first Ironman. She says: “I was never sporty at school; in fact I broke my hand playing volleyball. But I always felt happy when I was running.” Her first proper race was the November 2015 Cross Island and she got her triathlon bike for her birthday in April 2016. Mariam Turki, 32, took part in last year’s event but only did the cycling leg. The mum of two, who works in banking, says: “I was crying on the bike and didn’t think I would make it, but I did. Afterwards I thought ‘That’s not enough, I want to do the whole thing now!'” She started training in March last year and also got her bike for her birthday. Mariam was the fourth Bahraini woman to complete the race. So what is Ironman? It’s a multi-discipline race in which competitors, or teams, swim 1.9km, cycle 90km and run 21.1km; the overall distance is 70.3 miles – a half Ironman. As a way of promoting the sport, HH Shaikh Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa, himself a keen triathlete and Ironman competitor, announced that he would pay for the first five Bahraini men and first five women to attend the world championships. But really, this sounds HARD! Why would anyone want to put themself through months of brutal training and seriously taxing competition? Rana explains: “I heard about it through Sarah Al-Thawadi [in fact they all did]; she was second last year but was injured and couldn’t compete this year. She told me about the benefits of Ironman training. You might think of it as a commitment, but it’s a lifestyle. It gives you more discipline and not just in your training but in all areas of your life, for example at work. And it’s sociable; you can train with a group or by yourself; the community is very supportive.” Mariam adds: “After I gave birth to my second child, I was desperate to lose weight. My uncle has a running group called the Happy Team and I asked if I could join them; that’s when I heard about triathlon. I decided, if I was going to do it I wanted to train properly so I contacted Greer [Sansom], who trains us all and then I met these girls, who make training fun.” “When we first rode together, I couldn’t keep up, all I could see was Mariam looking behind her to see where I was,” says Rana. “I couldn’t even keep up with the warm-up!” confesses Hannah. Yet, they all went on to not only complete the What makes someone want to travel 70plus miles under their own steam? Liz O’Reilly met the Bahraini stars of the most recent Ironman 70.3 who will be representing their country at the coming world championships in Chattanooga, Tennessee, in September. Iron Ladies Bahraini finishers, from left, Hannah, Rana and Mariam with their trophies and, below, the three women with coach Greer
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