LetsRun.com Makes Its First Trip to Ethiopia Tomorrow.... What Should We Know and What Do You Want to Hear!?!!

Try and visit Bekoji. Where Dibaba and Bekele were brought up and trained while at school. Think their old coach still does sessions up in the woods from film I saw.

Any updates about which famous elite athletes will take part in the race?

wejo wrote:

I'm heading to Ethiopia tomorrow. Great Ethiopian Run is flying me out as the government is trying to promote tourism.

A bit hard to believe but no one with LetsRun has ever been to Ethiopia. We've been to Kenya 3 different times, Uganda once, but never Ethiopia.

Just curious on things I definitely should do from those of you who have been there and what in particular you want to know about the Ethiopian running scene.

I'll be in Addis Ababa the whole time as it's a short trip (get their Friday-leave monday)

You think? Maybe it’s .. “Where Dreams Become A Reality “?

rojo wrote:

Anyway, Wejo, what I want to know is how does Ethiopia appear to you versus Kenya.

I think most Americans kind of view them as equals in teh running world. To me, it's stunning they'd be close at all as the differ in some very big ways.

What most people fail to realize is that Ethiopia has twice the population of Kenya (105 vs 50 million) but basically half the income ($768 vs $1508). Given the population advantage, one would think there would be way more Ethiopian studs than Kenyans but there have been way more sub-210 guys form Kenya than Ethiopia. Is that because the poverty is greater?

Also does one tribe dominate like in Kenya?

This is actually a good set of questions. Though it is well-known that Ethiopia's best runners are mostly Oromo.