Dunkane Keba Desso
Age: 18
Ethnic Group: Oromo
Native Language: Oromiffa
Hometown: Gudane, Wellaga

Events: 10000m
PB: 36:25

Shoe size: 39 EU/6 UK/8.5 US
Training Shoes: Stability
Tops: Small
Bottoms: Small

PBs:
10k: 36:25 (Addis Ababa, March 2009)

Family:
My father is a farmer. I do not have mother. I have many brothers and sisters who are in school.

School:
Chanbe Primary School Grades 1-7
Meki Primary School Grade 8
Chellalo Secondary School Grades 9-10

Career Goals:
After running I want to coach athletes

Getting to school:
I ran every day and sometimes walked

Athletics Career:
Since 2003 my sister encourages and helps me to be a good runner. My sister was a runner.

Main challenges faced:

  • Being coached by different coaches
  • Lack of shoes
  • Lack of access to international and national competitions

Inspiration:
The motivation I get from coaches maeks me to continue running. My hope aim is to be a champion.
Excerpt from Co-Director's Blog (20 April, 2009):

I then spoke with young runner Dunkane Keba Desso. Unlike Seada, Dunkane does not have relatives encouraging her from a town 10km away. Her entire family lives in the Wollega Region, 600 km from Arsi. In Wollega, Dunkane was excelling in athletics but doing so as an isolated individual; she had little around her in the way of training partners, coaching or material support. She knew the opportunities to compete and  progress her talent lay in Addis Ababa, but she and her family lacked the means to support her in the capital city. As an alternative, she travelled to Asella after completing secondary school. Asella is a rural town with minimal facilities and support for athletes. However in contrast to Wollega athletes abound in Asella. While there she found coaches and sports administrators who supported her in her aspiration and sought opportunities for her.

She was recruited by the famous Mugher Cement Athletics Club and blossomed under their support however after a short time, she unfortunately sustained an injury.  Club officials waited some months for Dunkane to heal, but with the tight economy and high turnover of athletes in Ethiopia, they made the difficult decision to release her in the summer of 2007.

Dunkane now found herself in Asella, with only limited support from her family a great distance away, unsure of what her next move might be. Having invested so much of her own and her family’s precious time and resources in athletics, she was not prepared to give up.  But she was without essential means of support, lacking room and board, shoes and coaching. Still she kept training, with the Government-sponsored Zonal Coach Temeney Disassa attending his sessions 3 times per week and continued to stretch her family’s support as far as it would go. Improvements started to come. Even on limited training, she began to excel on a local scale once again, as she had in Wollega. 

By December, 2008, she had won the Arsi Zone championships 10000m run. Last February she did the same at the Oromea Region Championships in Adema. This qualified her for a national-level competition in Addis Ababa where she placed 3rd in 36:25. Although a long training road and a 6.5-minute improvement in PB performance still stands between her and the Ethiopian legends like Tirunesh Dibaba who have risen before her, Dunkane has shown she can persevere against adversity.  Her stay at the RAB training camp will provide a structured training program, with sufficient combinations of load and recovery, an optimal nutrition regimen and high-level coaching.  Consultations with our volunteer medical professionals may prove vital: Dr. Ayalew Tilahun, longtime consultant to the Ethiopian National Athletics team, will assist us on occasion and Dr. Simon Wood from the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre in Oxford, UK has volunteered his expertise via email consultation.