His dedication to athletics and sports is exemplary. He brought to Bahrain a unique love and passion for sports and soon became an icon of the Ironman and triathlons in the Island! BTW speaks to Mikel Calahorra, a dedicated sports coach of Bahrain, who coaches none other than HH Shaikh Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa.
Tell us about where you were born and raised, any special childhood memories, etc.
I was born in Bilbao, Spain. A nice city in northern Spain within a region called Basque Country. Also I expend a lot of time in Switzerland as part of my family is Swiss. Actually I’ve double nationality, Spanish and Swiss.
Tell us something about your educational and professional background.
I’ve a Master’s Degree in Industrial and Construction engineering. I did my studies in Bilbao and Lyon (France). I graduated in 2007 and since then I’ve been working as Engineer.
My work brought me for the first time to Bahrain back in 2010. I was working for an engineering company that designed the SULB Steel plant at Hidd. When the construction of the plant started, the construction company requested an engineer with wide knowledge of the plant and this one was me. I moved to Bahrain and I stayed until end of 2011. I liked Bahrain and the region very much, and I was looking forward to coming back soon with another job.
In 2012 I got an offer from KEMEN GROUP, a global construction and engineering company that was looking for an engineer to move to the region and I ended up in Bahrain again.
Since then I’m working in the company developing many construction projects like Al Raya mall at Juffair, Bahrain Endurance Village, the Courtyard at Seef and many others that are right now under development.
How were you initiated into athletics?
Since I was a kid, I liked many sports, and tried almost everything. Since 12 years old I started playing Waterpolo and I arrived to be part of the Spanish Junior team. At the same time, I was doing mountain bike races for fun, without much training.
In my summer place, each year they organize a triathlon and once I saw it and said… “They swim, they bike and they run… I do the same thing but separately. Why don’t I try?” In 2001, I finally participated in my first triathlon, and very fast I got interested on big challenges and the long distance triathlon.
In 2004, I did my first long distance triathlon (4k swim – 120k bike – 42k run)
2005 I did my first IRONMAN (3,8k swim – 180km bike – 42k run).
Tell us something about your achievements and awards.
My biggest achievements can be summarized as:
2005 Spanish U23 Champion
2007 Long distance World Champion U23 (Lorient – France)
2007 2nd at 70.3 World Championship M18-24 and 27th PRO (Clearwater – Florida)
2010 Long distance European Champion M25-29
14 Times IRONMAN finisher (Personal Best 8h59min IM Florida 2013)
3 Times in IRONMAN HAWAII World Championship (2009 – 2011 – 2014)
Tell us about your association with HH Shaikh Nasser.
Back in 2013 while I was working in Bahrain, I participated at Bahrain Olimpic triathlon , first triathlon event where HH Shaikh Nasser raced. I was lucky enough to win with a good gap with the rest while HH Shaikh Nasser finished 10th. At the end of the event HH asked about me and I finally was able to meet him. He ask me for help to do an IRONMAN and since then I became his coach.
How has the scenario of sports changed/evolved in Bahrain in the last decade?
When I came in 2010, there was a small sport community into triathlon, cycling and running. Most of them expats with some locals. We were a good bunch of friends enjoying the sport.
Since 2013 that HH Shaikh Nasser joined the sport, it got a lot of visibility and the numbers of locals doing sports increased really a lot. The ambience in the event got better and better and people got out of the couches and starting enjoying a healthy and sporty lifestyle.
Despite this push, there was lack of female participation in the sport. Local females especially. So in 2014, I proposed HH Shaikh Nasser to create a ladies team that will race the same races as us to get the media coverage. No professionals. Just a good mix of beginners that any girl on Bahrain could feel represented by them and encourage them to get out and join sports. HH Shaikh Nasser was very happy to support this initiative and it was a great success increasing a lot the number of female cycling on the roads and enjoying sports.
HH Shaikh Nasser figure, leading by example, has brought a lot of wealth to the sport and specially to Bahrain, contributing to build a better lifestyle for the Bahrainis.
What according to you are the qualities of a true sportsman?
A true sportsman have to be honest and hard working. With these two qualities, you will reach as high as you are up to. But the most important thing, they have to love the sport
they pursue.
How do you think more and more youth can be encouraged into sports here in Bahrain?
Bahrain has a lot of potential. This is just starting to grow now. The most important is to build opportunities for the youth. Events to attend, goals to achieve and role models to follow.
In terms of events, big events are already coming to the island, like IRONMAN or the SPARTAN RACE for example. In the upcoming future more will arrive and this will definitely help.
The teams like Bahrain Endurance 13, KHK MMA or the brand new cycling team give the youth the role models they need. Real champions based in Bahrain that can inspire young Bahraini talents and that they can use to learn from them, follow the example and gives them the opportunity to reach there sometime in the future with the hard work and honesty I talked about earlier.
What are your current goals?
Half of the season has gone and in this first part I managed to qualify for both World Championships. 70.3 IRONMAN which will be held in Moololaba (Australia) on 4th of September and for full IRONMAN to be held October 8th in Kona (Hawaii).
I currently fold the 5th position on the world ranking and hopefully after good results on world championships, I’ll manage to get a better rank.
I am now travelling to Australia for 70.3 IRONMAN World Championships and the rest I’m doing during this week is to know my fitness level right now and be able to race with the proper parameters in Australia and to get the training zones for the big training block that will lead me to Hawaii.
What is your message to the youth of Bahrain?
I’ll send them a clear message. Get out there, try all the sports you can, you will have fun, you will make new friends, you will experience new things, you will have the opportunity to travel and, if this wasn’t enough, you will have a much better health. SPORTS IS FUN.