Coaching a town of champions
Published 4 May 2012
A coach who has trained four Olympic gold medallists and numerous world champion runners will be in Eastbourne next week as part of an international partnership to boost the amazing athletic talents of the people of a small rural town in Ethiopia.
The town of Bekoji has scooped eight Olympic Gold medals, 32 World Championships and broken 10 world records in the last 20 years. It features in a documentary film Town of Runners which will be screened in Eastbourne on 9 and 10 May. The screenings mark the beginning of a long-term partnership between Bekoji and the University of Brighton's Chelsea School of Sport.
Young runners training in Bekoji
Coach Sentayehu Eshetu, a former PE teacher in a Bekoji primary school and who has played a big role in the town's athletics success, will attend the screenings with film-maker Jerry Rothwell. The first screening is aimed at 14-16 year old schoolchildren and the other is open to the public.
Alongside the screenings will be discussions on how Bekoji and the Chelsea School can develop a long-term coaching education partnership. There will also be a session in the environmental physiology laboratory where 2010 Ironman UK champion and former Chelsea student, Yvette Grice, will be training in the altitude chamber at 3000m, the altitude of Bekoji. The demonstration will highlight the increased demands placed on an athlete training in Bekoji compared to Eastbourne.
Town of Runners will be broadcast internationally throughout the Olympics year. It tells the story of two young girls, as they move from school track to national competition and from childhood to adulthood, who want to follow in their heroes' footsteps. Eshetu's protégé Derartu Tulu became the first African woman to win an Olympic gold in 1996. Since then he has trained and inspired countless elite runners including world champions Kenenisa Bekele, Tariku Bekele and Tirunesh Dibaba. His dawn training sessions attract 200 young people.
James Wallis, senior lecturer, from the Chelsea School, said: "Despite the wealth of talent in Bekoji, few will make a career out of running and many will need to give up their education and move from the area in order to progress their chances. Bekoji itself has few facilities apart from a dirt track which floods in the rainy season. The lack of specialist coaching support as well as other factors like early marriage and poor nutrition is a an important obstacle to their ambitions. In an area with few opportunities other than subsistence farming, running offers the chance of a different life. We want to support those ambitions through our partnership programme."
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