
My name is Rosine Watson, I was born just to the north of a town in Ivory Coast called Bouake. My family lived and worked on a cocoa plantation which is where I lived until I moved to the main city of Abidjan. I lived in Abidjan for many years which is where I met my husband, Mark.
Mark was fortunate enough to get a position in Riyadh and we moved there in 2016. In late 2018 I started to do sports with a ladies' group in the compound where I lived. Up until this point I had never taken part in sport of any kind as this wasn’t really permitted for girls raised in some parts of West Africa. I also joined a hiking group and through this group I was introduced to running and I instantly found that I loved to run. The feeling of freedom and the buzz I got while running was like nothing I had experienced before. I hope that through my love of running I might be able to encourage other people with similar backgrounds and upbringings to take up sport of any type as the feeling is phenomenal!