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RAB High Altitude Training Camp Project--First Competition Sunday at Great Ethiopian Run Ring Road Relay
It was exactly 2 months ago that 2009 intake of developmental athletes travelled from Arsi to Addis Ababa to begin the Running Across Borders Training Camp Program. Since then, along with education and vocational training, they have been undergoing a rigorous athletics training regime under Coach Melaku Deresse Biratu. Although two of the athletes have focused on the marathon and one of them on 800-5000m track races, the majority have been training for the 10km and half-marathon events. This weekend they will have a chance to check their progress as they compete as teams in the annual Ring Road Relay organized by the Great Ethiopian Run, the organization directed by former British Olympian Richard Nerurkar.
The Ring Road Relay was inaugurated in 2004, according to the race website, 'to mark the handover by the CRBC construction team of the second phase of the Addis Ababa Ring Road to the Addis Ababa City Roads Authority.' The Ring Road is a massive project targeted toward completion in 2020, and is geared toward vast improvements in traffic flow around and through the rapidly-developing African city. At the same time, it's constructors acknowledge that 70% of inhabitants of Addis Ababa still travel on foot, and so stairs and accessible crosswalks around interchanges are essential to their plans. It is an impressive structure that is coming to greatly define the infrastructure of the city.
The race itself is an 8-stage relay run by teams comprised of both men and women. The lineup for the Running Across Borders team will be announced shortly by Head Coach Melaku Deresse. 'This is a very important race to test the athletes' fitness but also to bring awareness and exposure of our club throughout Addis Ababa and Ethiopia,' said Melaku. Indeed, as an event organized by the Great Ethiopian Run, which holds the famous international 10k.
The RAB developmental athletes have made 8 weeks of very solid training under Coach Melaku. They do hard sessions 3 days per week, on either grass, hills, gravel road, asphalt road, or track. By now they should start to see an effect on their performance. Check back here for the results!
