New take on "Why Kenyans Make Such Great Runners" in Atlantic article.

Yesterday I was talking to a Kenyan runner that just happens to be in my emt class. When I asked if he ran to school he just laughed and said, "No no that would make me sweaty and gross." He also mentioned that, including him, only 5 people in his village ran.

What about the Ethiopians, then? The flying Finns? They are/were just as dominant and no one's talking about a 'sisu gene' or a 'Selassie gene'

Do you think another "ethnic" group (for lack of a better term) will someday supplant the Kenyans as the world's greatest distance runners?

Adam C wrote:

Do you think another "ethnic" group (for lack of a better term) will someday supplant the Kenyans as the world's greatest distance runners?

Yes, ethiopeans are surely there already. Sololia may have great talent, but we'd never know. Just shear numbers and ethnic diversity: USA, china, Russia, India.

It would be interesting to see a study done on the great Ethiopian runners. At least to my untrained eye they look physically different than the typical elite Kenyan runner. Kenensia Bekele looks like he could be a great cyclist.

Kenensia Bekele is listed at 5'8-1/2" and 145 lbs? That can't be right.

http://www.iaaf.org/athletes/biographies/letter=0/athcode=138200/index.html

I think someone looked at it for 5 mins and is suddenly an expert

It's more to do with being born up a mountain than genes. There is a lot more to it than that but it's been done to death, read Train Hard Win Easy which was written a long time ago

Supposed to be "Somalia". Typing on an iPhone...

I'm not a huge Malcolm Gladwell fan, but he has a point. If in the US distance running was a path to great fame and riches, the US would produce many more great distance runners.

Remember Geb did run 6 miles each way to school. Ebuya was a nomad. So its not like its some "myth". Moreover, even if they are going to school by bus, that doesn't mean East African kids are hanging out at the 7-11 drinking slurpies and playing video games. Here is an idea. Why doesn't somebody just go to Kenya and watch the life over time and observe what kids do when they grow up. The whole research into this subject is so idiotic and stupid. I'm so sick of people saying that an East African "only trained for a few months" and suddenly he was one of the great distance runners in the world. In one way or another I think its safe to say that a typical East African teenagers have a lot more miles running than the typical American. Clearly there is genetic innate talent with body build and countless generations living at altitude.

JohnSnow wrote:

Yesterday I was talking to a Kenyan runner that just happens to be in my emt class. When I asked if he ran to school he just laughed and said, "No no that would make me sweaty and gross." He also mentioned that, including him, only 5 people in his village ran.

In the film "Big Mazungo" there is an interview with Al Salazar where he comments that the typical East African 18-year old boy has run 18,000 miles more than the average American 18 year old boy. I have no idea where he got that number or if it is even accurate.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NtYsUhxNzNM&feature=relmfu

(Go to time 2:12)

Kenyans are not the only one's born on mountains, what about Tibetans, Mexicans and Americans. The mystery of Kenyan success continues. Lol. Kenyans know the answer and they swore not to reveal it.

It's genetics, stupid.

(sigh) wrote:

It's genetics, stupid.

There is a book called "More Fire. Running the kenyan way". It is a pretty good book that goes through and discusses why the kenyans are dominant distance runners. Yes, genetics are involved to an extent. Yes elevation helps, yes starting to run early helps. One of the keys the book mentions is that they run because they have the best motivation...a better life. The money they get from winning a major marathon is a huge deal and can set them up for life in kenya. I read recently a large farm in kenya costs 6000. Interetheirly enough once their careers end, the book says that most don't run anymore. Its a business. Another neglected reason is the way they train as a pack in such large groups of other talented runners that push each other. Just some more thoughts for what its worth.

I'll preface this by saying this is just my opinion, and I am not a scientist or any type of researcher. I have just read a lot on the subject. Hopefully this doesn't come off as racist.

The Kenyan/Ethiopian Dominance is running is because of a few factors:

1) Environment--Both groups are born at altitude and live there throughout their lives. Living at altitude has proven to increase how much hemoglobin one has in his or her blood. This is a pretty huge advantage in distance running, but it's not everything. They also grow up in a place where they do not become obese or at all overweight as kids. Their nutrition may not be perfect (I have heard they eat tons of sugar), but they are not eating nearly as much as wealthy people, and that alone makes a difference.

2) Genetics--There is no denying that the body type of East African runners is different than the vast majority of people of European descent. East African runners are thin but strong. Their muscle mass is ideal for running, it seems. Some non-East Africans seem to be gifted with this type of body, (thinking Galen Rupp/Verzbicas) as they resemble East Africans in their body type/form when the run. (Also read somewhere, and this seems very controversial so I am not too convinced of it, that the reasons East Africans are naturally skinnier than Europeans is that they have lived in warm climates for the entirety of their lives, so have never needed to develop as much fat storage as people of colder, European heritage).

3) Culture--They grow up in a culture where distance running is the shit, basically. Everyone does it, or tries to do it. This is what a kid who is in my year at university from Kenya has told me, at least (he also run a 14:20 5000 two years ago, and gave up running because he told me "I came in last"). America has great basketball, football, and baseball players because every kid plays them and wants to be the best at them. I am confident that if every kid tried running and it was a lucrative profession, America would do much better on the World stage, simply due to our population.

4) Mentality--I read this somewhere, and that article hinted at it, but the tribal history in East Africa has lead to pride being a huge part of their mentality. These guys will suffer to win, because that is how they are raised.

5) Work--These dudes work their tails off, plain and simple. Recently a week of Mutai's training was posted, and that dude just runs a ton. Here's the link:

http://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=4530955

. VERY few people are willing to run for three hours on their "easy days," but it's stuff like that that makes him one of the best.

So those are my .02, feel free to tear them apart. Or maybe it's just from jumping up and down all the time--who knows:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-wLLOCapyU

Really quite an interesting discussion. I think the different factors were very well elucidated by the above poster regarding genetics, environment, culture, body type, etc. Basically, it seems to be the perfect storm. Further, add on top of that that the best of the best Kenyans seem to have a chance to procreate together. By this I mean, elite Kenyan males meet elite Kenyan females at internationals that they might have not been able to meet possibly before being from different parts of Kenya/from different tribes, etc. This possibly passing on super genes from both the mother AND father into their progeny. A bit like the gouchers and their child, perhaps? Did yobes ondieki and Lisa Martin ever have a child? Pity Shannon butler and Vicki huber never had a child...

hmmmmm.... wrote:

2) Genetics--There is no denying that the body type of East African runners is different than the vast majority of people of European descent. East African runners are thin but strong. Their muscle mass is ideal for running, it seems. Some non-East Africans seem to be gifted with this type of body, (thinking Galen Rupp/Verzbicas) as they resemble East Africans in their body type/form when the run. (Also read somewhere, and this seems very controversial so I am not too convinced of it, that the reasons East Africans are naturally skinnier than Europeans is that they have lived in warm climates for the entirety of their lives, so have never needed to develop as much fat storage as people of colder, European heritage).

There's also no doubt that two groups of East Africans (both of which are awesome at running) have body types that couldn't be more different from each other:

They definitely could be more different from what I can tell. Compare those photos to any of them to any of these guys:

http://www.letsrun.com/photos/2009/usatfo2/imagepages/image19.php

. I agree that Kenyans and Ethiopians are not the same at all--Kenyans clearly tend to be taller and leaner by and large, where as Ethiopians seem more compact--but neither group has the size that is more common among people of European descent. In the article, it seemed to be because of a difference in bone mass, and I would say there even seems to be some difference in bone structure. Again, this is all just observational analysis. I also don't think these "ideal" body types are unique to East Africans--they are simply more common there. Further, whereas people in the US with this type of body are simply seen as skinny, un-athletic people, in Kenya/Ethiopia they are seen as having a good body for running.

Of course its genetics. There is no way training alone could turn little kids turning not even 20 to completely destroy the competition and records. And its not just one. There are just so many of them. And good for them. I just want to see anyone run fast.

"The secret", only a Kenyan knows. I am a Kenyan and believe me there is a secret that we swore on our cows udder we are not going to reveal. Those Kenyans act nice and smiley but they know something.