Bekoji, the Runners' Town

ETHIOPIA BEKOJI, THE RUNNERS’ TOWN Francesco Alesi Bekoji, Ethiopia. Runners in “the forest” of Bekoji for the daily training. On wednesdays the athlets make 2 hours of physical exercise. If you look at the birth certificates of the best Marathon runners in the world, you will discover that many of them come from Bekoji, Ethiopia. This small and isolated town lies in the south of the country and is becoming famous for being the “town of runners”. In recent years, 6 runners from Bekoji won at least one Olympic gold medal for long distance running. Amongst the town’s most famous runners are Kenenisa Bekele, world record holder in both the 5000 metres and 10,000 metres for men, and Tirunesh Dibaba, the women’s 5000 metres world record holder. What’s Bekoji’s secret? It seems to be a combination of environmental and social factors: the 2800 meters elevation gives it thin and clean air, beside this there are no cars, but the main thing is the hard training and the will to succeed. In a few years, some of these kids will win gold medals, stay in luxury hotels and sign contracts with Nike or Puma. But they’ll never forget where they come from and how they reach success. Bekoji, Ethiopia. Even though they are long distance runners the trainings often consist on speed running. Bekoji, Ethiopia. The forest of Bekoji in the early morning. On wednesdays the athlets do physical exercise for two hours, using whatever they find in the forest. Bekoji, Ethiopia. Runners don’t stop training even during the rainy season, from June to September. This should be the resting season for the athletes but actually their training is even heavier because of the mud. Bekoji, Ethiopia. Runners and Saints are the images that can usually be found in the young runners’ rooms. Bekoji, Ethiopia. There are virtually no cars in Bekoji. The roads are for runners, pedestrians, bikers and horses. Bekoji, Ethiopia. Running in Bekoji is very common. Beside the athletes, in a town with no cars, people run to simply get from one place to another, while herding farm animals, and also just for fun. Bekoji, Ethiopia. Alemayeu Worku is a 19years old 800m runner. He is getting ready to go to work after his morning training in the forest. He works as a shoe cleaner near the bus station and earns about 70 birr (€3) per day. Bekoji, Ethiopia. Lencoo Tesfare 5000m runner. After training he works in a friend’s barber shop until night time. His wage is 20birr (€0,80) per day. Bekoji, Ethiopia. Some runners’ photos on the wall of the Sport Federation of Bekoji. Bekoji, Ethiopia. Boys jumping in the street with a homemade obstacle. Bekoji, Ethiopia. Running shoes are of vital importance in Bekoji. Once they get worn out they must be repaired because runners don’t have enough money to get new ones. To buy new running shoes is a long term investment. Bekoji, Ethiopia. The forest of Bekoji in the early morning. On wednesdays the athletes do two hours of physical exercise. Bekoji, Ethiopia. View of the town. Bekoji, Ethiopia. Sentayehu Eshetu, also called “the coach”, preparing training programs outside the Bekoji Sport Federation office. As gym teacher in the high school he discovered and trained a lot of Bekoji’s runners and some of them, such as Kenenisa Bekele, Tirunesh Dibaba, and Derartu Tulu, became the best in the world. Bekoji, Ethiopia. Alemayeu Worku is a 19 years old 800m runner. He is getting ready to go to work after his morning training in the forest. He works as a shoe cleaner near the bus station and earns about 70 birr (€3) per day. Bekoji, Ethiopia. Some Bekojians fix the antenna to watch on TV their fellow citizens competing in the Athletic World Championship in Moscow. Bekoji, Ethiopia. The window of a shoes shop in the market square. Bekoji counts 17,000 inhabitants and almost everybody wears running shoes. Bekoji, Ethiopia. At the end of the daily training, on the way back home, runners have fun playing in the stream between the forest and the town. PARALLELOZERO, VIA DONATELLO 19/A, MILAN - [email protected] - WWW.PARALLELOZERO.COM - +39.02.89281630.

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