European Athletics (EAA) – News – Portugal’s Félix has Mota’s marathon record in her sights in Vienna

Ana Dulce Félix will attempt to finish her first marathon, and finish it in a very fast time, when she races the Vienna City Marathon on 17 April.

The Portuguese runner, who won the senior women’s bronze medal at the 2010 SPAR European Cross Country Championships in December, showed that she is in great shape ahead of her outing in the Austrian capital when she finished second in last Sunday’s Lisbon Half Marathon in a Portuguese record of 68:33, (although it should be noted that her compatriot Alberina Dias has a faster time of 68:21, set in 1996 when Lisbon was a ‘downhill course’ prior to route alterations in 2009).

It was also the fastest time of the year so far by a European runner.

“In Vienna, I’ll be asking for a pace that means I can challenge Rosa Mota’s national record of 2:23:28, which was set back in 1985. Nothing is impossible and I proved it to myself today,” said Félix.

However, Vienna will not be Félix’s debut marathon. She started the New York City Marathon in November last year but dropped out early, citing a mixture of a lack of preparation and stomach problems.

She hopes that there will be no mistakes this time but regardless of the result it has been literally a rags-to-riches story for Félix in recent years.

Felix was a promising teenage runner and she made her international debut at the 2000 IAAF World Cross Country Championships, finishing 110th as a junior.

Several further appearances in major championships followed in the next two seasons, although she was nowhere near the medals and so thought she wouldn’t be able make a living as a professional runner.

Needing to pay the bills, Felix went to work in a local factory making clothes, getting paid around €400 a month.

Felix continued to train but was struggling to reach her potential.

"I had to combine work and training, which was very hard. I worked between eight and 12 hours per day and, because I was very tired, I had to train less," said Félix.

Jessica Augusto, her friend and the 2010 SPAR European Cross Country Championship gold medallist, suggested several times to Felix that she should become a full-time runner but eventually it was her coach, Maria do Sameiro Macedo Araújo, who finally convinced her in 2007.

"My trainer kept telling me that if I stopped working, I could be elite. I decided to try it. When I look back now, I see that I should have given up working sooner because of what I’ve achieved since," she added, when talking about her tough road to the top ahead of the 2010 SPAR European Cross Country Championships.

The decision to stop working in the factory started to show almost immediate results. In 2007, she won the Portuguese 10,000m title and the following year she finished a creditable 13th at the IAAF World Half Marathon Championships.

However, it was in 2009 was when she really came to everyone’s attention.

She won three major cross country races, was the top European finisher at the World Cross Country Championships, won several big half marathons and ran a personal best of 69:44 in the Lisbon Half Marathon.

Last year, in addition to her medal on home soil in Albufeira, she finished ninth in the European Athletics Championships 10,000m.

Among Félix’s rivals in Vienna will be three women who have gone below 2:29 including Russia’s Elza Kireyeva, who was third in the 2010 Dublin Marathon with 2:28:02 and who is looking to improve further.

European Athletics (EAA) – News