Tuesday, July 20, 2010

ETHIOPIANS

Jake asked me to write a brief blurb about some of the local Ethiopians who were dawning donning running company singlets last weekend at the race. To make a long story as short as possible, the bottom line is one of the new employees at the store, Tefari Nigatu, was a journalist in Ethiopia and is friends with the Lets Run guys and famous runners in Ethiopia. He took interest in the local Ethiopian runners and we since added some of them to the team. They are a nice group and it appears theyare simply trying to earn some cash to send home and or eek out a living here.

They would like to train with the race team but are busy with jobs and of course, there is a slight language barrier.

It would be cool to figure out a way to train with them at least one day per week.

Two of the notable new recruits are Demessa and Gurmessa. Both of these guys have been racing in the area for some time and are very nice and easy going. Aside from that, they are very good runners.

I hope this general description helps.

As time progresses, the relationship may or may not pan out.

If anyone wants to reach out and try and work with these folks, I have their contact info.

Max

7 comments:

Joe Wiggy said...

The only way to get better is to surround yourself with runners who are faster than you... Therefore, I look forward to working out with Tefera and Gurmessa.

KLIM said...

I echo what The Wiggy said. It would be great to get them to a Store run/workout in the coming weeks. We can all benefit from each other's company. We can plan that on our end and then get in touch with Tefari

Anonymous said...

you know they already getting most our prize money away already... don't you worry that we ain't get any better than what already is?

KLIM said...

Huh?

Not sure what you mean. It's not "our" prize money.

Let the best man win.

Peter said...

I feel like I recognize the broken syntax of this jingoistic tirade. Towpath is watching you, anonymous.

Matias said...

Tefera and Gurmessa represent GRC at races? EPIC

Andy said...

I think this is awesome. As I like to say, "Let the cowboys ride!"