25 June, 2009
RAB Men and Women Teams both finish 6th in Great Ethiopian Run Ring Road Relay
Last Sunday morning the finest athletics clubs in Ethiopia sent one or more representative teams out to compete in the 6th Annual Great Ethiopian Run Ring Road Relay. The Great Ethiopian Run traditionally attracts the strongest competitors in Ethiopia for all its events, not just the famous 10km race in November. Therefore, it was not a surprise that RAB’s two men’s teams and one women’s team would be competing against well established clubs such as Global Nike Project, Oromia Police and Muger Cement. The race started from Sarbet, just south of Addis Ababa’s famous Mexico Square, and ran 16km along the ring road, with each leg being 4km. The field was hugely competitive with the winning team ending up averaging 11:04 per 4km leg, which is equivalent to about 14:07 for a 5km performance. At 2000-2300m altitude that is not easy. A solid 6th place for our men out of 30 elite teams and as well as 6th for our women out of 20 elite teams is a great start. Therefore, while it was undoubtedly a challenging day for RAB teams the athletes demonstrated significant potential last Sunday with promising prospects for the future. Read more for a synopsis of the three teams performances and the athletes involved as well as an insight into the RAB training camp athletics programme.
Men’s ‘A’ Team
RAB’s men’s team consisted of three developmental athletes from the training camp project and Assefa Girma, a professional athlete who is not residing in the training camp but who recently joined our sports management operations. He just completed a successful 4 year training and racing programme based in Japan and now seeks to convert his impressive track and half-marathon ability into world-class marathon performances under the guidance of Coach Melaku Deresse. This relay represented Assefa’s first race in competition for RAB as well as under Coach Melaku.
Although this was Assefa’s first race in 8 months it was decided that he would run first to give the men the best position possible against the fierce competition. He did not disappoint showing enough speed to outrun the entire field over the short 4km distance tagging his receiver in first place. The task of maintaining a strong position against the best clubs in Ethiopia was now down to Aman Dhaqabi Sufo, Haptamu Getonaho, and Eda’O Hussen Welge. Aman received a tag from Assefa and impressively ran in front of the pack for the entire second leg of the race tagging Haptamu with first position maintained. Haptamu followed Aman’s leg with a strong leg of his own and although caught by one team, tagged Eda’O in a strong second place.
As the 19-year-old from rural Bekoji set out on the last 4km leg the RAB team stood a legitimate chance to reach its pre-race goal of a top-3 finish. In the end the anchor leg competition proved tough and Eda’O ended up bringing home the team in 6th place. In the spirit of Ethiopian competitiveness the four men saw their failure to crack the top 3 as a disappointment. In reality however, with the exception of Girma, these athletes have far less experience than most of their competition had and can be credited with the waves of shock they no doubt sent through the minds of other athletes and their coaches when they maintained a top-3 position for more than three-quarters of the race.
According to coach Melaku Eda’O, who has been training in RAB’s training camp for the past 2 months, has looked the best of the entire pack of male developmental athletes. Through our Sponsor-an-Athlete Programme his expenses to join the camp have been generously supported by 2L Coaching (Pennsylvania, USA).
Ladies ‘A’ Team
RAB’s women’s team also had three developmental athletes from the Arsi Zone competing: Seada Nura Bati, Dunkane Keba Desso, and Dinkinesh Mekasha Tefera. Like the male athletes all three girls have completed two months of rigorous training under Coach Melaku, thanks to the generous sponsorship from Girls Gotta Run Foundation (Washington DC, USA).
Seada and Dinkinesh, being the most endurance-oriented have run in training at continuous hard effort for up to 30km, with the group’s track session’s as a whole being comprised of 6-8km. They therefore went into the relays not knowing if they would have the speed to compete with Muger Cement and Oromia Police over 4km relay legs. This is largely due to these large clubs having athletes training for all distances from short track events to the marathon. Dunkane by contrast is a 10km specialist while Seada and Dinkinesh are preparing to race a half-marathon this August and a full marathon within the next 12 months. Despite this the girls boldly undertook the task of representing RAB.
The fourth runner on the women’s team and the athlete chosen to start the race was a new runner named Nishan from North Shoa, a zone of Ethiopia 100km north of Addis Ababa. 8 months ago she left her rural home to come to Addis and train to make it in athletics. Coach Melaku noticed her performance in local races and while not in the full RAB training camp programme she has joined the group for training sessions, thus was selected by Melaku to run in this competition.
As expected the competition proved difficult and the women unlike the men did not have an experienced professional to lead them off in first place. Nishan performed well thanks in part to her experience thus far when competing in races in Addis. At the end of the first leg she was not leading but tagged Seada in a strong position. Seada ran with a slightly conservative approach because in early June she had missed a few days of training in order to prevent the worsening of a foot condition. Still rebuilding from that she had been instructed to run under control until at least 2.5km into the leg. She did so and she handed over to Dunkanne with RAB right in the mix of the top-10. Dunkane has also been hampered in training since joining the camp with Achilles tendon problems that have affected her in the past. Neverthless, thanks to her natural speed she was able to run impressively over the distance. She tagged Dinkinesh who displayed the same strong endurance she has displayed during training sessions since April and outlasted the anchor legs of many of the teams around her, bringing home the RAB ladies in a solid 6th position to match the men’s effort.
Men’s ‘B’ Team
The RAB men also entered a ‘B’ team, hoping to prove it is a group that produces not only a handful of outstanding athletes in front but also larger number of athletes who are training well at a high level and continually improving. The ‘B’ team was joined by developmental athletes Daniel Alemu, Endilia Mekonnen, and Eshetu Gemechu.
Daniel Alemu is a challenger for the most accomplished of all the developmental athletes having recently run 3:46 for 1500m at the difficult altitude of Addis Ababa as well as a 1:52 800m. His exposure to endurance training, however, has been minimal and he has only run a handful of 5000m races, with a PB just over 15 minutes. The RAB system is the first time he has ever trained in a year-round program with an endurance-focused segment over the summer months. Under the sponsorship of Swarthmore College XC Alums he has been able to join the camp and train at a high level even though his next track competitions will not be for at least another 6 months.
Endalia Mekonnen enjoyed an extremely solid 5 weeks of training upon first arriving at the camp on 20 April; the male athlete pack comprised of himself, Eshetu Gemechu, Aman Dhaqabi, Eda’O Hussen, Haptamu Getanoho, Yared Hailesilassie, and Mesfin Emeyu was practically inseperable, whether over 1-minute fartlek stints, 3km track repetitions at 75 seconds per lap or 30km hard endurance runs on gravel roads. Endilia’s opportunity to train has been facilitated by an individual sponsor named Bart Borghuis (Washington DC, USA). On the recovery from illness for the past three weeks he has worked hard to be in good shape, and the chance to compete on the ‘B’ team was an indicator that his fitness has been restored. Eshetu, meanwhile, has been training very well under sponsorship from the Guernsey Island Amateur Athletics Club, but as a half-marathon specialist who will be transitioned into marathon training within the next year, he was not chosen for the ‘A’ team due to Eda’O and Aman being 10km and cross-country specialists.
The remaining place on the ‘B’ team was filled by an older athlete named Afework Amelo who lives in the Entoto Mountain area in the north outskirts of Addis Ababa. Afework has vast experience when it comes to athletics having paced many training sessions for top stars on the Ethiopian National Team. He has also secured a handful of his own invitations to international races such as the Ras Al Khaimah Half-Marathon in Dubai where he finished 12th in 2008, running 1:05:19. RAB has agreed to take him on as an outreach athlete with the possibility of him coming under our sports management operations in the future. Although we must reserve the benefits of our training camp program such as housing, meals, English education and vocational training for young athletes coming from rural areas, we still aim to support athletes like Afework who live in the city and have raced abroad. We do so by guiding and advising their training, monitoring them in hard sessions and making sure they find their way to high-profile competitions in Ethiopia. This allows us to track our outreach athlete’s progress and should there be space for them in our sports management program assist them in this way.
Therefore, the ‘B’ team consisted of four very strong athletes all very focused in their training and ready for the competitive opportunity presented to them thanks to the Great Ethiopian Run organization. Daniel started the race for them very well. He has been showing impressive strength in training sessions and sustained his speed well over the 4km leg today. Endilia and Afework ran the middle legs and Eshetu anchored bringing the team across in a very impressive 9th place, just 3 positions behind the ‘A’ team and well ahead of most entries in the 30 team field, which was comprised only of professional-level clubs.
The Running Across Borders Training Program
As described in earlier entries, the training program under Coach Melaku has presented significant changes and challenging adjustments for these athletes. Most of the athletes have 5 to 6 years of running experience, but this is the first time they have trained in a setup with this many resources in place. Most of them when growing up considered 30 minutes to be a typical easy day and 90 minutes to be a typical long run. Their families could not provide them with large amounts of calories on a regular basis, thus fuel had to be conserved for the 2 or 3 hard days per week. Easy days are now at least 45 minutes and during long runs they cover up to 110 minutes.
A further change is the fact that the athletes are training in large groups of ability-matched partners on a daily basis. In the rural areas their training groups were rural projects but these were spread out amongst the projects of the different areas they come from. Dinkinesh Mekasha, for example, trained in Bekoji, far ahead of the other female athletes in that area, while Dunkane and Seada trained in Asella. Even Dunkane and Seada would only run together 2 or 3 days per week. Similarly Eda’O and Eshetu trained in Bekoji, whereas Aman, Haptamu, and Endilia all trained in Asella.
The groups are now all under one roof in the RAB camp, training together and daily pushing each other harder. Even though the athletes are still just doing 3 hard days per week like they did back in the rural area, each of those three hard days counts. Coach Melaku has observed definite fatigue in the athletes by each Saturday, the 3rd hard day of every week with at least one athlete every week having to pull out of the long run by 15km and ride home in the minibus. Sunday and Monday are easy days which gives the athletes the chance to recharge, however running hard on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday is difficult.
For some of the athletes this fatigue has been reflected in injury and illness however Coach Melaku monitors the athletes closely, watching for possible injuries before they become a concern. Sore spots are addressed with massage and ice treatment and any injuries and illnesses have been dealt with appropriately. Last month we spent 650 Ethiopian Birr (58 USD) on medical expenses from our general funds but these were funds well spent.
The Great Ethiopian Run Relays gave our athletes the chance to put the training they had done into practice and they faired particularly well in what was a very competitive team event. It is clear that overall the increased training load and intensity of the RAB training Programme has paid off. Coach Melaku recently commented that there was indeed a problem of adaptation that was revealed by some injuries and athletes being unable to finish the 3rd day of hard training each week. However, now he is observing big changes in the athletes’ aerobic power, strength and endurance. The recent successful performances over the 4km distance by many of the athletes, even the ones who have been injured or ill, is a reflection of this progress. Ironically, the athlete who left the ring road on Sunday most disappointed with his effort was Eda’O, the athlete who has looked the strongest of the men’s group in hard sessions. Such is often the nature of hard training, especially for endurance, where there are days when athletes feel great and days when they feel terrible. Trying to predict how they will perform mid-cycle in the training programme is difficult, however our overall objective for all the developmental athletes is to produce strong performances at the Sulutaa Half-Marathon in August.
For top 3 results in each team relay events see
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