Active NL Legend Maher

Last updated: 17 April 2023 14:15
Created: 26 October 2022 20:43
Hits: 321

Back in September, Active NL member Maher took part in the Cumbernauld 10k and amazingly came 1^st in his age category and 14th overall out of over 400 participants.

We caught up with him recently to hear all about his training and his plans for the future. Read his story below.

Tell us a little bit about yourself.

My name is Maher Sawan, im 20 years old and live in Cumbernauld. I was born in Syria and moved to Scotland in 2017. During this time, I couldn’t speak any English and had to learn when I got here.

When I am not with my family or training, I work as a barber in Cumbernauld Shopping Centre. I have been barbering since I was young, it really is a passion of mine and one of my goals in the future is to have my own barber shop.

Why did you sign up for the Cumbernauld 10k?

I have been running for around 3 years and had been training in the Tryst Sports Centre for a couple of months when one of the personal trainers told me about the Cumbernauld 10k. At the time I was fit so my family and friends encouraged me to do it. Once I signed up, I increased my training to 5 times per week and after lots of hard work I knew I could smash it.

How did you do in the race?

On the day I ran a personal best and completed the race in 37:59 minutes. This time was 1^st in my age group and 14th overall out of over 400 people. I’m really proud of myself.

Will you keep running?

As well as the 10k I also signed up to run a half marathon for Children's Hospices Across Scotland, so I continued my training in the Tryst right after the 10k race. This distance was very hard, but I was able to complete it in a good time of 1 hour 15 minutes.