The Press and Journal (Inverness, Highlands, and Islands)
Eritrean taking north debut in stride
Athletics: Olympian for Inverness half marathon
Olympic athlete Weynay Ghebresilasie is tomake his Highland debut in next month’s Inverness half marathon, entries for which close on Tuesday February 21.
The 22-year-old Eritrean is one of more than 2000 runners to have signed up for the 33rd edition of the popular race which takes place on Sunday, March 12.
Ghebresilasie, who successfully applied for asylum in Britain after representing his country in the 3,000m steeplechase at the London 2012 Olympic Games, recently moved to Scotland and joined Shettleston Harriers.
He has linked up with a number of other Eritrean runners to have followed the same path to Glasgow in recent years, the most notable of which include Tsegai Tewelde, who represented Great Britain in last year’s Rio Olympic marathon, and Tewodle Mengisteab, winner of the Inverness half marathon in 2015 and fourth last year.
Shettleston coach John Mackay believes his club’s latest recruit can make a big impact when he competes in Inverness.
He said: “Glasgow has always welcomed refugees and our club has gained a reputation for looking after the runners among them so I guess that’s why Weynay decided to come here.
“He was in Sunderland to begin with then spent some time in the midlands, but now he is up here.
“It’s not easy for him, moving to a newcity, trying to get sorted out with a permanent place to stay and all the other things you have to cope with in his situation.
“He arrived here just before New Year and ran his first race, the Nigel Barge 10km in early January, finishing third.
“But he has been training hard since then and he is running well.
“He has tremendous speed as he has some fast track and road times to his credit.
“He has run around 8min 28sec for the steeplechase, 3: 41 for
“Ghebresilasie has tremendous speed and some fast times”
1,500m and 29: 00 for 10km, so he has the pace.
“Hehas been doing some long runs as well, so his endurance is getting better and I think he can do well in the half marathon.
“He hasn’t really done a serious one yet, but I think he sees a future in this and perhaps even the marathon.
“It will certainly be interesting to see how he gets on at Inverness and, of course, Mengisteab is coming back to run there as well, so it should be another good race.”