RAB Training Camp
Are you a competetive runner? Do you want a running experience of a lifetime? To find out more about the Running Across Borders Visit and Train Programme click here
To find out more about how you can get involved and help Running Across Borders click here
If you are a running product manufacturer or retailer we have an opening for at least one such sponsor for the training camp. Click here to learn more.
Are you a race director or organizer? Do you know one? Instead of offering cash prizes for your race, consider using part of your proceeds to finance a trip to the training camp for the race winners!
All of these funds go directly toward supporting the camp!
1. Structured Training:
Ethiopian children from rural areas have great potential to become elite endurance athletes because walking and running to school from a young age gives them an outstanding base of childhood physical activity. Unfortunately, when they reach adolesence these rural areas usually lack access to coaches with knowledge of basic training principles like periodization and recovery. So many of these athletes simply quit school and run as hard as possible every 12 hours, sleeping much and eating little in between.
In our camp by contrast they will have the opportunity to train under a national-level and internationally-educated coach, who can monitor not just their training but also their sleeping and eating routines.
An athlete's development in the program is evaluated annually by comparison with standards of progression. Athletes meeting the 'A' Standards each year are given priority with access to the camp's athletics resources and training is continually made the focus of their lives. Athletes not meeting the standards, however, have the focus of their lives shifted toward employment in athletics-related industries, as this represents their best chance to gain something from their involvement with the sport.
2. Competitions
Living in Addis means that many national-level competitions can be accessed with no travel expense. Then, as the athletes develop and succeed, international racing opportunities can be achieved. In the rural areas, by contrast, local competitions are not well organized and results not transparently reported. By joining our program the athletes have the chance to progress through the ranks straight to the top!
3) Education
This structure and routine in the athletes' lives will give them time to resume or continue their educations. By locating ourselves in the city, we can connect them to educational resources that will allow them to do so in the best way possible. The city offers highly qualified English teachers as a start. Beyond that, however, there is opportunity for athletes to gain formal training in advanced topics such as computers, tourism, sports medicine, and exercise physiology research.
3. Employment
This education is meant to lead to employment. Being in the city, we will be able to link these athletes with job opportunities in sports administration, sports tourism, sports medicine, exercise physiology research, and social development through sport. The chart below shows ways that our athletes are employed through our organization in these industries. The rural areas do not often offer connections to institutions facilitating these careers.
Coaching and Medical Support
The camp is supervised by Melaku Deresse Biratu, Marathon Coach for the Ethiopian National Athletics team, 7 years the coach of Mugher Cement Athletics Club, and holder of IAAF's Level III (elite-level) coaching certificate as well as M.A. in Physical Education from Addis Ababa Universeity. He will structure the training program for all the athletes.
Medical support can be accessed through Dr. Ayalew Tilahun, head doctor of the Ethiopian National Athletics Team and we have contact with local sports massage therapists. We are currently arranging for these massuers to be trained in Western-Standard massage techniques, such as soft tissue release.
A Typical Day
Here is an example of how we administrate the programs in the training camp on a daily basis:
6:00am: Wake up
6:30am: Athletes gather and begin first training session.
8:30am: finish session. Breakfast cooks prepare breakfast.
9:00am: Breakfast
9:30am: Shoppers rest, cleaners follow cleaning program, others wash shoes and clothes.
10:30am: Shoppers go shopping, others rest.
12:00pm: Lunch cooks prepare lunch.
1:00pm: Lunch.
2:00pm: English Lessons
4:00pm: Rest
5:30pm: Second training session
6:30pm: Dinner cooks make final dinner preparations
7:30pm: Dinner
9:00pm: Washing or using lavatory
9:30pm: Bedtime
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Who? The RAB Training Camp houses our developmental athletes, who relocate to it from their rural origins.
Why? The goal of the training camp project is for each individual beneficiary athlete, within 5 years of induction to the camp, to realize economic opportunity as one of the following:
a) an elite professional marathon runner (<2h, 11m for men, <2h, 27m for women)
b) a working professional in a running-related industry, such as exercise physiology research, sports medicine, running tourism, sports administration, or social development through sport
c) a student accepted to begin university
How? The program takes advantage of its location in the greater Addis Ababa area to achieve the following specific aims:
Dr. Ayalew Tilahun, Ethiopian National Athletics Team Doctor, advises RAB Co-Director Garrett Ash
Melaku Deresse, RAB Head Coach
Running Across Borders
