Palestine athlete Nader el Masri doesn’t even have a shoestring budget

His 5000m race at the Asian Games is in less than 24 hours, but Palestine athlete Nader el Masri still doesn’t know if he will get to run in spikes. “I don’t have personal spikes. I will try to borrow from some other athlete or will run in normal sports shoes,” Nader told DNA on Saturday.

At the last edition in Doha, Nader was in a similar situation too but got lucky on race day. “In Doha, I borrowed the spikes before my race from a Qatar athlete,” the 30-year-old long-distance runner said.

Nader, in fact, is not used to running in spike shoes. “In Palestine we don’t have a practice field and track, so I am not used to running in spikes. I have a pair of old spikes shoe, which someone gave me six years ago, but it does not fit me now,” said Nader. “And, the Athletics Union of Palestine is not in a position to give me one as it is expensive.”

Even if he manages to get the spikes for his Sunday night race, Nader said he wouldn’t be very comfortable. “You need a minimum of a month to get used to it. That’s why I have not tried running in spike shoes here as there is a risk of picking up a calf injury. Better to directly run in the race,” he said.

It is Nader’s third Asian Games. He had also competed in Beijing Olympics, the only athlete from the Gaza strip. Adjusting to run on the synthetic tracks in competitions is another challenge for athletes from Palestine, he said. “I run on the streets, roads and on the beach.” So, how does he measure 5000m distance? “We check the kilometers by car and then check the timing on the watch.”

The lack of training facilities and equipment is not the only challenge faced by Nader. Hailing from Beit Hanon village, the volatile region which is 500m from Israeli occupation, he runs in the constant fear of getting caught in the firing line. “There are always clashes, firing, bombing, may be every two
weeks. Two, three times I have got caught in the firing while training.”

He said in such an emergency, you just hide at the nearest corner. “I hide beside the nearest home or crouch in a corner. It was so demotivating that I went back home and did not train for the next four-five days.”

Nader started seriously training in 1998 and the thing he enjoys most about running is the feeling of freedom it brings to him. “We live in Palestine under siege. I chose running because it gives me a sense of freedom. We want to do well at the Asian and world level, but there are limited opportunities because of seize and war.”

“The Palestine people love peace. We believe Palestine man is a good man and a good player,” he said.