Mohamed El Hattab of Morocco (© Getty Images)
Morocco will be sending both men’s and women’s teams to the IAAF World Half Marathon Championships that will be staged in Vilamoura, Portugal on 4 October.
In the absence of the newly crowned World Marathon Champion, Jaouad Gharib, who took silver in the last edition of the World Half Marathon Championships, in Brussels, the men’s team will be led by the seasoned campaigner Mohammed El Hattab, who won gold in the fifth Francophone Games in Ottawa in 2001.
The women’s team of four athletes will be headed by Kenza Wahbi, who came 35th in the World Championships marathon in Paris in 2:38:36 and who has to her credit this year victories in the Barcelona Marathon and Granottes (ESP) half marathon.
Altogether, Morocco has won four medals in the World Half Marathon Championships, with Khalid Skah taking gold in Oslo (1994) and bronze in Uster (1998), Gharib’s silver in Brussels in 2003 and a team bronze in 1994.
Moroccan Teams
Men
Rachid Ait Bensalem (1:01:33)
Mohammed El Hattab (1:01:55)
Abderrahim Goumri (27:26.01 – 10,000m)
Abdellah Falil (1:01:07)
Abderrahim Harroufi (1:01:17)
Women
Bouchra Chaabi (1:12:10)
Malika Assehsah (1:11:46)
Kenza Wahib (1:12:00)
Zhor El Kamch (1:09:15)
