For Ethiopia’s Dr Sue Thomas describes her first Great Ethiopian Run.
Several times I have been in Addis Ababa when the city closed down, and a sea of runners, dressed in Ethiopian colours streamed through Meskel Square.
I discovered that this was The Great Ethiopian run – the biggest road race in Africa.
I did some research. The competition was set up by Haile Gebrselassie in October 2000, following his return from the 2000 Summer Olympics. Initially there were 10,000 entries but these places quickly sold out and others unofficially joined in the race without a number. The creation of the race marked the first time that a major annual 10 km race had been held in the country, renowned for producing world class runners.
Several of our supporters in the UK are keen runners, so I floated the idea that I might take a group as a fund raising event. I canvassed opinion, and, eventually, in November 2017 I took a group of 9 to Addis Ababa for the run.
Although it is only a distance of 10km, Addis Ababa is situated at altitude 2,200 metres (7,200 ft) and the temperature is around 25*c, so it presents a challenge.
I arranged a package for my ‘runners’ – 7 days and 6 nights in Ethiopia. They would buy their own flights and make any other arrangements that they would like to see more of the country. I also asked them to raise £1000 sponsorship each – a tall order!
My tour included
Day 1 Arrival, transfer to The Ghion Hotel, orientation and trip to the Entoto Hills with welcome supper from FDEA (For Development Association,Ethiopia) our partner NGO in Ethiopia.
Day 2 Sightseeing tour of Addis, including a demonstration of injera making and Pasta party at the Hilton Hotel with Haile Gebreselassie himself
Day 3 The Run, followed by concert in the grounds of the hotel that evening.
Day 4 A day of pampering and recovery at a luxury Spa Hotel
Day 5 & 6 Visiting our projects – Chiri Well. Mie Spring, Dobi School, Addis Alem Health Centre and Maternity Unit, the Girls Hostel. Followed by traditional Ethiopian feast and Music
Day 7 Conclusion of trip.
My group consisted of founder of For Ethiopia, Tigist Grieve, my neighbour and marathon runner, Mandy Risso, Emma and Geoff Kaile from Folkestone-runners/travellers involved with young asylum seekers, Diana Brand, trustee, Naomi Gillingham, GP and veteran of two previous trips with me plus Dr Stephanie Chadwick, currently a partner at my old practice Bradgate Surgery and John Seagar her partner.
On the morning of the run, I was amazed to find that the For Development Association, Ethiopia FDEA, our partner in Ethiopia, was out in strength! None had ever done the race before, but there they all were, plus relatives and old school friends of Tigist! Our numbers doubled instantly.
The race started at 8.00; the 500 elite athletes went off first then the remaining 39,500 en masse . We had a good kilometre to walk to the start of the race, and the party atmosphere began to build up immediately. We all had the same running shirt in green/red/yellow – this year red and yellow predominated, but people had personalised them, adding a fringe here and removing a sleeve there – there was glitter, face paints, hats, runners on stilts or dressed up as butterflies – more like Notting Hill Carnival than a normal 10k.
The crowd partied round, stopping to take selfies, to drink to eat or dance to one of the numerous bands around the track. Our group was quickly separated – I brought up the rear with Tigist, Naomi, Selam and Kebede, displaying our banner at every opportunity to the watching crowd and television cameras.
Little chance to actually run, which was a relief as the sun was strong and the altitude made us noticeably breathless if we tried to exert ourselves. At the 9k mark, several of our group had waited for us – John, Stephanie and Mandy who passed me a very welcome St George (local beer) so we ‘ran’ the last 1k together and got our medals. I did it in just under 3 hours – 1 hour inside my target 4 hours. In the group, out Field Coordinator, Worknesh Daba, ran the race and came in first. She was on television.
You guessed – I was last! Back to the Ghion where the music started and there was a celebratory concert which went on well into the night.
*If you would like to raise funds For Ethiopia by arranging an event or taking part in a run, please get in touch.
