Bahrain welcomes highly-decorated Legends Team

Manama, Dec. 5 (BNA): The most successful British track athlete in modern Olympic Games history, Mo Farah, and a Manx professional road racing cyclist Mark Cavendish, have arrived to Bahrain to participate in IRONMAN 70.3 competition, along with the International Marathon Swimmer Chloe McCardel, who reached the Kingdom one day earlier. The three, among the world’s most decorated athletes, will be competing as one team in the IRONMAN 70.3. Mo Farah, the 2012 and 2016 Olympic gold medalist in both the 5000 m and 10,000 m, has expressed pride in participating in the Legends Marathon. “I’m really excited to be here in Bahrain. I’ve never been here. This event has been going on for years. And it’s always nice to get back to the community and basically to show what we can do as legends alongside with Mark Cavandish, and Chloe Mccardel,” he told Bahrain News Agency (BNA) upon his arrival at the airport. Bahrain has become the world’s destination that attracts all sports and champions, in various tournaments. Lately, Bahrain hosted Brave, endurance championships and F1. “I’ve never participated here in the region. It’s my first time here in Bahrain and I’m excited, I’ve heard a lot about Bahrain, I’ve always seen it in pictures but I’ve never been here before and I’m just excited to be here,” Mo Farah said, contently sharing his enthusiasm. Asked about his preparations for the Tokyo 2020 championship, he said: “I’m going back to the track. My aim is to try and defend my Olympic title again in Tokyo 2020; but now in Bahrain, it’s my first competition since I announced I’m going back to the track and hopefully I will make this one exciting and enjoy it as a team with the legends.” Cavendish, the British cyclist participating on Saturday at Avenues Mall hall, expressed his excitement to meet the participants, especially, HH Shaikh Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa. “It’s my first time in Bahrain and I’m excited to see HH Shaikh Nasser and IRONMAN 70.3. I’ve heard how much it grew since its inception a few years ago, and I’m excited to see what it’s about and see people participate and hopefully do well ourselves,” he said. Talking about his 2020 plans, Cavendish said: “I will ride from next year, first of January for Bahrain McLaren cycling team, so we will start racing in February.” He praised the support of HH Shaikh Nasser for Bahrain Merida 2020, and the participation of locals. “I’m excited to join the McLaren team because this is phenomenal, it’s going to really bring the team in the future and make it a top team in the world, and to be part of that is really special,” he added. Cavendish has won thirty Tour de France stages, putting him second on the all-time list, contributing to a joint third-highest total of forty-eight Grand Tour stage victories. He won the road race at the 2011 road world championships, becoming the second British rider to do so after Tom Simpson in 1965. Cavendish also won the points classification in all three of the grand tours: the 2010 Vuelta a España, the 2011 Tour de France, and the 2013 Giro d'Italia. In 2012, he became the first person to win the final Champs-Élysées stage in the Tour de France in four consecutive years.