Chabot Cross Country Star Ahmed A True Road Warrior

Cross country runners usually log a lot of miles every summer in preparation for the season, but Chabot College’s Muhammed Ahmed took his training to another level this summer.

And it has paid off for the sophomore.

Ahmed ramped up his mileage to 110-120 miles a week during the summer, and an outstanding cross country season has followed. He has run 21 minutes, 5.7 seconds for 4.0 miles, and Saturday he ran the second-fastest 8-kilometer (5-mile) race in Chabot College history at the Bronco Invitational (24:29.2).

In a 5K on the Chabot track on Sept. 30 (The Chabot Twilight Invitational), Ahmed ran an outstanding time of 14:39.9 for second place to the defending state 1,500-meter champion in track (Cristian Martinez of American River) in the 3.1 mile race.

“It gives me the legs under me no matter what the pace is,” said Ahmed of running the extra mileage. “I can race really hard and really push myself. I was heading into this season with confidence.”

The massive mileage actually wasn’t too much of a jump from for Ahmed, a true road warrior who ran 95 miles a week during track season at Saint Mary’s College before he transferred to Chabot.

The Newark Memorial High graduate routinely runs twice a day and takes a long run of two hours on Sundays. He does a lot of his training at Coyote Hills Regional Park and in marshes nearby in Newark.

Ahmed’s mileage was cut back to 40 the week before the Bronco Invitational, but otherwise it has still been around 100 this season, Ahmed said.

“He’s a highly motivated individual,” Chabot coach Kyle Robinson said. “His work ethic is probably as good or better than anybody I’ve had. He is determined … and he’s smart. He does a good job of listening to his body.

“I would say he is the first athlete that I’ve had that’s right to get in that kind of volume,” added Robinson, who started as an assistant at Chabot in 2010 and became the head coach in 2015. “His ability to adapt and maintain that volume is really working for him.”

Ahmed opened this season with a second-place finish at the Fresno Invitational to Martinez on Sept. 10. The Chabot star ran 21:05.7 on the 4.0-mile Woodward Park course — the course used for the state championships.

He then won the George Brooks Memorial Invitational at Hidden Valley Park in Martinez by 10 seconds with a time of 21:35.40 on the hilly 4.07-mile course.

Ahmed’s consistency in training could be seen with his performance at the Chabot Twilight Invitational.

“Going into it, I didn’t have as much confidence that I would like. … I went out there anyways and committed to the race plan, and I felt very good,” Ahmed said. He passed the first mile in 4:40 and kept that pace for the second mile on his way to the great time.

At the Bronco Invitational, Ahmed was the second community college finisher, and the first from a California CC, in the invitational race that was dominated by four-year universities. He placed 51st overall in the race at Baylands Regional Park in Sunnyvale. Teammate Daniel Trampe, a freshman, was the third community college finisher (67th, 24:40.2, third all-time at Chabot College). Martinez was 111th in 25:05.5.

Ahmed’s running career began in high school with a bet.

“I started the very end of my sophomore year,” Ahmed said. “My friend and I had a bet who could run a mile faster. He was already on the team, and I joined the team so I could race him. The first season I ran, he beat me every time. My junior year in cross country, I got him.”

Then the COVID pandemic hit, but Ahmed’s interest in distance running continued to rise. “Before COVID, I did it for fun. I was a soccer player,” said Ahmed, who then read a running book that really motivated him. “I was bored during (the COVID pandemic), so I started training.”

The summer of 2020, Ahmed ran time trials in the mile of 4:40 and 4:32. In a short cross country season in the spring of 2021, he ran a 47-second personal record over three miles (15:22). He also produced a time of 9:40 for 3,200 meters during the short track season that spring, then went to Saint Mary’s College as a walk-on at the beginning of his freshman year.

Ahmed ran 14:56 for 5,000 meters and 25:09 for five miles at Saint Mary’s, then transferred to Chabot for “a lot of reasons,” he said.

The decision appears to have been a good one for Ahmed.

The postseason starts with the Coast Conference championships on Oct. 26 at the Crystal Springs course. The Northern California championships are Nov. 5 at Rohner Park in Fortuna, hosted by College of the Redwood. The state championships are Nov. 19 at Woodward Park.

Robinson said that Ahmed is currently considered one of the top five runners in the state.

“I’m super grateful for my team and all my friends around me and obviously Coach Kyle,” Ahmed said. “The team is great. … I think we will make a surprise push in November.”