Mahamed Mahamed fasting in Atlas Mountains to prepare for London Marathon

Mahamed Mahamed’s London Marathon training regime looks a bit more nocturnal these days.

Some have tried to talk the fourth-fastest Briton over 26.2 miles out of fasting for Ramadan during race prep, but the 28-year-old has found an ideal base in Morocco where he can lace up his trainers after mosque.

Ifrane is not simply a convenient and safe place for the Southampton Olympian to run at night. In the unsociable hours, at altitude in the Atlas Mountains and under the floodlights of the track with other Muslims, he has found community in others balancing their faith and devotion to sport.

“Some people think I shouldn’t (fast and train),” Mahamed told the Press Association. “Especially now, because I’ve got a competition coming up, and they think I should focus on training for now, and then maybe fast.

“But I’m used to it. It became my routine, so I am grateful for that advice, but I just get on with everything.”

Mahamed’s longest days start around 4pm, when he leaves for his first session. Then he will come home, eat, go to mosque, then back out for a session, usually finishing at 1am.

He will probably have something to eat, sleep for an hour or two, wake up for more food around 4am before going to bed again – getting up for good between 9-10am. It helps, he admits, to have someone to cook for him – nothing particularly nutritionist-prescribed, just whatever hearty Moroccan meal is on offer.

“It’s a little bit hard,” admits Mahamed, particularly when it comes to sleep, adding: “I take my job seriously, but Ramadan is the most important for me. It makes me focus as well. It makes me understand who I am and what I could do.”

He is eager to test his limits this season. Mahamed is one of four British men active on the marathon circuit who have clocked under two hours and eight minutes, a “new era” cohort, as he characterises it. He is aiming for a personal best in London, where he was fourth in 2024, and targeting a podium finish at the home European Championships in Birmingham.

There is also the intriguing possibility that he could one day join the exclusive club of Britons who have competed at both a summer and winter Olympics.

World Athletics president Lord Sebastian Coe has long advocated for cross-country’s inclusion in a winter Games, last summer asserting that there is a “good chance” it will happen, even as early as the 2030 edition in the French Alps – though it would require some amendments to the Olympic charter.

Mahamed twice won the English cross-country title and represented his country at the 2019 World Championships.

“I would love to see cross-country in the Olympics,” added Mahamed. “It would be a dream come true (to do both). I think I would do both. If that sport is available, I want to go.”