Running in Ethiopia – Ethiopian Junior Championship
The Oromia region, which covers much of the territory south of Addis Ababa, is the source of many of Ethiopia’s most renown athletes. Asela and Bekoji are where Gebrselassie, Bekele and the Dibabas all grew up, covering large distances on foot, at altitude, as part of their daily routine. It took roughly five hours to reach Asela from Addis, a bumpy crowded bus ride in which the cabin was frequently bombarded with dust.
I decided to spend a day in Asela in order to check out the town and see some of the Ethiopian under 20 championship that was set to take place in the stadium. By the time I arrived in the early afternoon the first day of competition had already terminated. There were time sheets on the wall at the back of the grandstand, as well as the schedule for races the following morning.
Asela sits at 2400m, a similar elevation to Addis Ababa. In the evening I ran up the slopes of the (extinct) volcano that towers over the town’s East, Chilala. Within 2km on the road leading up to Chilala I was passing through fields of teff, consistently climbing into thinner and thinner air until the road terminated after about 8km (and 900m elevation gain). I descended back to the hotel as the sun was setting. Derartu Tulu owns one of the main hotels in the town, however due to the championship this was full, and I had to stay across the street. The hotel I was in was also filled with athletes, relaxing in the evening before their competition the next day.
The races were scheduled to start at 8:30. I arrived around an hour beforehand and some athletes were already running laps around the field surrounding the stadium. The track was in somewhat rough condition, with chunks of tartan missing the whole way around lane 1. A soccer match was underway on the field whilst the athletes were still warming up. Spectators began to form a significant crowd, filling the grandstand on the home straight as well as the terraced grass around the rest of the track.
The first event was the male 5000m heats. Local pop music blared from the grandstands, only stopping moments before the gun was set to go off. The first heat was great to watch, with a field of athletes of varying capabilities. One set out and gained a significant lead of eighty or so metres, only to be lapped by the time the lead pack started to ramp up the pace in the final 800m. The finishing pace of all three races was really impressive, however it was evident that plenty of the athletes were keeping their reserves for the final. The fastest race was the second heat, in which the winner ran 14:11 (keep in mind the altitude, and that this was just a heat: lots of talent on display here!). The large crowd was very animated for these races, as was the group of coaches that I was sitting with next to the finish line.
Following the men’s 5000m the women had their 3000m heats, which also had a large spread in ability. Whilst this was occurring there was also triple jump at the far end of the stadium. There were very few athletes who were hitting the board consistently. Ethiopia is renowned for its performance in the distance events, and this appears to be where almost all of the investment and emphasis is placed by government and the athletics federation. From conversations with different athletes and coaches here, it seems that coaching and development in other athletic events really have much less resources allocated when compared to the distance events.
I left as just as they were setting up for the steeplechase, as I had to check out and take a bus to Bekoji. The experience here at the national junior championships was great. Similarly to many of the experiences we have had here, one of the first words that comes to mind is raw, or rudimentary. It’s amazing to see the athleticism and commitment of the athletes and know that they are achieving what we are witnessing with so little resources.
