The Great Ethiopian Run is a 10km race in the centre of Addis Abeba. Started by the famous Ethiopian athlete, Haile Gebreselassie, 8 years ago; all money raised goes to charity. Ethiopia won the men and women's 5km and 10km at this year's Olympics.
As with many things here, on closer inspection, they are not that dissimilar from the UK. The run is well organised without the need for kilometres of crash barriers. The atmosphere is very impressive, as 32,000 people all wearing the same T-shirt fills the capital centre. Competitors (in the loosest sense) are entertained with vast warm-up sessions. Although I'm not sure if press-ups really help. It is lacking the usual fancy-dress contingent, even with a 10-foot tall condom making an appearance. Even though the entrance fee is only 40Birr, the main entrants are ferenji and the rich unfit habasha.
Unusually for Ethiopia, the race starts on time and everyone seems over excited, as for the first time they have permission to run without people staring. For a nation of runners, everyone seems intent on the walk-sprint method. As my group set off walking (I'll explain later) scores of runners barge and shove their way through the crowds shouting "run, run, run". Unfortunately, while a large open area is a good place for a start, it quickly leads into a bottleneck. Oh I wish I was an elite runner at the front. After 30 minutes we reach the 3km sign just as the winner finishes and collects 20,000 Birr.
During the race….I need to stop calling it that. Actually it was a walk as I was feeling pretty horrendous with a virus so decided to accompany the rest of the volunteers. The race took in many government buildings and the palace where a set of opposition took the opportunity to make their feelings known chanting "thief" and "Teddy A". Teddy Afro is a singer known for his anti-government lyrics, who was caught drunk driving and is now resting in jail for a while.
Two hours later, we reach the finish and collect our medals.
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