Mass participation in Soddo, Ethiopia in 2008 (© Negash)
The second race in the 2009 Education for Girls series took place in Assosa, 550km West of Addis Ababa, near Ethiopia’s border in Sudan, on Sunday (25).
The event, which is organized by the Great Ethiopian Run, is to do more to promote girls’ education in parts of Ethiopia which have low enrolment rates for girls in secondary education.
Strangely, considering the title of the series of runs, there were races staged for the boys as well as the girls.
This year’s series, which is annually held in three selected locations, started two weeks ago in Gambella, 700km Southwest of Addis Ababa, and will be held in Jijiga, 600km East of the Ethiopian capital two week time.
Girls’ education and running come a long way
Although the winning times by the top three runners are significantly slower than many of the elite races held in Ethiopia, just taking part in these races is a triumph for girls of the region.
According to Ermias Ayele, Marketing and Operations Manager with the Great Ethiopian Run, organisers undertook massive publicity activities to try and motivate children to take part in the races.
“It is mainly a cultural problem,” he says. “Girls are told to stay home, while the boys go to school. There is also a lack of a sense of security for the parents to enrol girls in schools. They feel that they might forget their duties at home.”
Assosa, which is the capital of the Beninshangul-Gumuz region and is remotely located from the capital Addis Ababa, may not be known for its athletics traditions, but around 2000 runners took part in the adults’ race, while 250 toed the start line for the children’s contest.
The women’s race was won by youngster Derebe Melak who achieved a dominant eight-second victory over Habtam Melak with Mareme Deresse finishing third in a tough contest held under the heavy sunshine.
But this was not an event for girls only. The men’s contest was equally competitive with Fekadu Tadesse winning from Gelahun Dejene and Bekele Kassa.
Elshadai Negash for the IAAF
RESULTS
MEN: 1. Fekadu Tadesse (15:52); 2. Gelahun Dejene (15:59); 3. Bekele Kassa (16:19)
WOMEN: 1. Derebe Melak (18:42); 2. Habtam Melak (18.50); 3. Mareme Deresse (19.34)