Running Across Borders -
I met Malcolm Anderson who is the Project Co-Director of Running Across Borders at the Rome Marathon which was held in March 2009 - the 1st 11 positions were taken by Kenyan Runners - for which Kiptoo Kolum who won and set a new record of 2 hours 7 minutes and 17 seconds. Malcolm is working on a wonderful project with runners and I hope some of you may be interested in reading what his organisation does and how they intend to help such great athlets. Good luck from all of us at Bushdrums.com
www.RunningAcrossBorders.org
A member of International Humanities Center
International-level sport bears significant economic potential, even by developed-world standards. Therefore, East African countries, which have the world's best runners but some of its poorest economies, have great potential to develop through sport. Running Across Borders (RAB) is a non-profit organization, therefore, that expands economic opportunities to East African youth through running.
At Running Across Borders we believe that the best foundation on which running-related infrastructures can be built is by empowering and supporting young people in East Africa who already devote their lives to running. Thousands of East African youth already participate in the athletics industry however they participate as desperately-training sub-elite athletes: running as hard as possible every 12 hours, sleeping in-between, consuming inadequate refuelling diets, while lacking basic support in terms of coaching, medicine, and equipment. Consequently, athletes see the pursuit of training as a fully-exhausting task which rules out their pursuit of education or employment. A fraction of these athletes reach professional level. Sadly, the majority of athletes never develop their running to a professional standard and get no economic payoff from their work.
Running Across Borders’ strategic aims are therefore threefold: to provide East African youth with 1) education 2) employment opportunities and 3) domestic and international competitive opportunities in athletics. The establishment of the Running Across Borders High Altitude Training Camp in Addis Ababa is the first necessary project we are undertaking. The Camp provides:
- A structured programme of training for our male and female athletes staying under one roof and supervised by the expertise of a qualified Ethiopian coach.
- A place in which our education programmes are taught (primarily English but modules on financial management, nutrition, physiology and sports tourism in the future)
- Employment opportunities for each of our athletes on site (chefs, cleaners, sports administrators and running guides to foreign athletes)
- An office out of which to run the sports administration side of Running Across Borders
- A facility in which to host foreign visitors who want to experience high altitude training.
For further details of the areas of our work mentioned above visit the Running Across Borders website at www.runningacrossborders.org.
Should you wish consider supporting an athlete or making a donation to the organisation please visit www.ihcenter.org/groups/runningacrossborders
If you wish wish to contact the directors email Malcolm Anderson at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it and Garrett Ash at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
