Sports

Jonathan Ramnanansingh

9 Hrs Ago

Endurance athlete Dexter Ali. – Photo courtesy Dexter Ali

ENDURANCE athlete Dexter Ali will attempt one of Trinidad and Tobago’s most grueling solo runs when he sets off on his “Sea-to-Sea” challenge from the Sea Wall in Galeota to Teteron Barracks in Chaguaramas from November 1, with an expected finish on the following day.

The 55-year-old businessman and multi-sport competitor will cover approximately 80 miles (130km) — more than three marathon distances running from east to west Trinidad — in what his coach Derrick Simon described as a “personal challenge” inspired by Ali’s recent birthday.

“He’s running from the sea wall in Galeota to Teteron Barracks in Chaguaramas,” Simon said. “It’s a personal challenge. He’s an Ironman athlete that I have, and he came to me in June after doing an Ironman and he said he wanted to do this challenge. So we started training.”

Ali, who competes with Simon’s Pace Performance Factory, has spent months preparing for the test of physical and mental endurance. His training included multiple long-distance runs around the Queen’s Park Savannah, at times completing 24 laps — equivalent to 57.2 miles — in a single session.

Simon, a national middle- and long-distance coach, said Ali’s programme was unlike any he has designed before.

“The training plan that I had to come up with as a professional, working, it was something I had to think out of the box,” he said. “I will be extremely proud of him. It’s going to be a huge, massive accomplishment for any coach in the Caribbean to accomplish that.”

Given the distance and expected overnight running, Simon said Ali’s preparation also focused on hydration, fatigue management, and sleep deprivation.

“We’re starting in the evening hours so he can run more in the cool temperatures overnight instead of the hot sun. But the other dynamic of it is sleep deprivation. So I had to do multiple training runs just to fatigue him for his body to understand how to deal with challenges of fatigue.”

To simulate this, Ali often ran double sessions — such as 36 miles in the morning followed by another 16 miles after a brief rest “so his body understands how to deal with fatigue.”

The coach also drove the full route with Ali to map out terrain and strategy.

“We drove the course to identify certain hills he has to power walk and so on, so he is not counterproductive. There’s no sit down and rest unless he has a challenge.”

While Ali will tackle the route solo, Simon said several runners will join him intermittently for support, alongside a vehicle crew, family members, and police escort from West Mall to Chaguaramas.

“It’s him alone, but other runners running in between to support him. People are going to see what they can do in between, make some PBs (personal best times), see how much they can support him.”

Simon said he would not hesitate to end the attempt if Ali’s wellbeing became a concern.

“If I see he reaches 65 miles and he isn’t looking coherent, we’d stop him,” he said. “It’s a challenge. It’s something that he trained very hard for.”

Simon is also a national middle and long distance coach.