tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-359464892012-02-16T18:02:41.785-05:00Running Related News and Commentary from an Ethiopian perspective.roochahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00125211435159381084noreply@blogger.comBlogger277125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35946489.post-50674797586714740482011-09-04T09:58:00.004-04:002011-09-04T10:31:12.572-04:00

Men's Marathon Kenyans ran a clinic finishing 1-2-5. As usual Ethiopia put together a very underwhelming performance. At the 25K point only Feyisa Lilesa was in contention. Feyisa Lilesa tried to keep up with the eventual winner Vincent Kipruto but found himself alone flanked by Kenyans. Give credit to Feyisa Lilesa who battled it out for 3rd. The second place Ethiopian finisher was in 13th place

welemtahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17293454447470652037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35946489.post-10943838324964372612011-09-03T17:26:00.000-04:002011-09-03T17:41:18.308-04:00

There are no holdovers from Berlin. This is an entirely new team. On paper Gebregziabher Gebremariam is the slowest runner with a personal best of 2:08:14. He did run 2:04:53 at Boston but that time considered aided and does not count. The Boston time makes him the fastest runner. He joins a couple of 2:05 runners and a couple of 2:06 runners. This is a very young team. Feyisa Lilesa and Bazu

welemtahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17293454447470652037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35946489.post-36362024692432952472011-09-03T09:30:00.002-04:002011-09-03T10:00:08.702-04:00

1500M Finals Kenya took gold and silver. Ethiopia's only finalist Mekonnen Gebremedhin finished 7th. The 7th place finish was not reflective of the race he ran. Mekonnen could have probably won a bronze but he went for gold and it did not work out. It's good that he showed assertiveness and confidence. The fist two laps were very slow. The final lap was a scorcher. They covered the final 300M in

welemtahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17293454447470652037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35946489.post-50333267732965313592011-09-02T09:50:00.003-04:002011-09-02T10:53:04.736-04:00

Women's 5000M The Ethiopian plan was to again try something that did not work for them in the 10,000M. The Kenyan plan was to again try something that worked for them in the 10,000M. Guess which plan worked? In a slow race and the Ethiopians again seemed content to wait and out kick the Kenyans. It was no secret that the Kenyan women and Vivian Cheruiyot in particular can out kick the Ethiopian

welemtahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17293454447470652037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35946489.post-58407847437781347252011-09-01T10:27:00.003-04:002011-09-01T10:40:26.087-04:00

Three more days to go and Ethiopia just has 1 gold and 1 bronze medals. No luck today. Women’s 1500 M Final With about 150 meters to go Kalkidan Gezahegne was where she needed to be, sitting right on the sholder of the leader Natalia Rodríguez and looked ready to explode with a sprint. The sprint never materialized. She finished a disappoinging 5th. What makes it more disappointing is that

welemtahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17293454447470652037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35946489.post-34870470703276494562011-08-31T16:24:00.005-04:002011-08-31T17:18:58.412-04:00

Four runners are entered. Kenenisa Bekele Imane Merga Abera Kuma Dejen Gebremeskel Although listed, Kenenisa Bekele will not defend his title. That Tariku is not entered is a surprise. Tariku’s time this year is better than Abera Kuma and he has more connections to the federation than the relative new comer Abera . Tariku is a good runner but is not a big threat to medal. Giving an opportunity

welemtahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17293454447470652037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35946489.post-62878680731159500332011-08-30T10:01:00.006-04:002011-08-30T14:20:44.763-04:00

Men's 800M Final. Mohamed Amin finished last in a race that had a fast finish. He was out of position to respond when the big boys took off. He did show some flashes in the semifinals when he stormed from way back to win his heat. With experience and good coaching he can turn into a good runner. Women's 3000 Steeplechase Final Sofia Assefa fell on the first hurdle and yet finished 6th which

welemtahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17293454447470652037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35946489.post-22423993919412615192011-08-30T08:30:00.000-04:002011-08-30T14:21:16.980-04:00

I was surprised to see Kalkidan Gezahegne is in semifinals. Obviously she did not advance based on time. Her heat time was slower than four runners that did not qualify. It looks like she protested the clip that almost caused her to fall and advanced based on that. That was a great break for Ethiopia.

welemtahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17293454447470652037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35946489.post-77702569944572685232011-08-29T09:27:00.007-04:002011-08-30T11:30:03.972-04:00

Women's 1500M Kalkidan Gezahegne a medal contender did not advance from the first heat. It's a disaster. Kalkidan did most of he leading in her race. But the race she lead was the slowest heat. If she goes through the trouble of leading why not lead a fast race? In addition, this was the first heat where one does not know how fast they should run to qualify so it is even more important that to

welemtahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17293454447470652037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35946489.post-55625156629174177272011-08-28T07:16:00.003-04:002011-08-28T07:50:47.574-04:00

In what has to be on of the great finishes in the 10,000M, a gutsy Ibrahim Jeilan came through with a blistering finish to catch favorite Mo Farah at the finish line. Imani Merga came in 3rd. Kenenisa should have never started this race. He dropped out at about the 5,000M. The Kenyans were a non-factor in this race mostly because Zersenay Tadese kept the pace honest. A lot of respect to

welemtahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17293454447470652037noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35946489.post-47959953968975290902011-08-27T19:31:00.002-04:002011-08-27T20:01:14.589-04:00

First the good news. The only bright spot so far in Daegu is that middle distance and steeplechase runners have all advanced to the next stage. Fantu Magiso has made it to the women's 400M semifinals. We had suspected that Ethiopian Athletics is in decline. But 1-2-3-4 for Kenya? The truth is that Ethiopia has not been developing talent on the track for a while. 5,000 and 10,000 doubles medals

welemtahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17293454447470652037noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35946489.post-29862275298123134572011-08-26T23:35:00.003-04:002011-08-27T00:03:58.785-04:00

The first thought that comes to mind is I miss Tirunesh. There is talk that Meseret Defar is in great shape. It's hard to discount Meseret Defar but she did have a streak of failure at big events. She finished 5th in Berlin. With Tirunesh absent this is Meseret's chance to win the 10,000M. Meselech Melkamu is a good runner but never grew into a champion. Don't expect much from Tigist Kiros. She

welemtahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17293454447470652037noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35946489.post-53685227623849342011-08-26T23:15:00.002-04:002011-08-26T23:34:38.970-04:00

In the 3000M Steeplechase all three women qualified for the finals. Sofia Assefa looked very good in her 3000M Steeplechase heat. She ran with the confidence. Mohammed Aman advanced to the 800 Semifinals by taking 2nd place in a fast heat. He showed some inexperience. He had poor lane position and ran most of the race on the outside. He did however show good finishing speed.

welemtahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17293454447470652037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35946489.post-41058107057370815492011-08-26T22:52:00.002-04:002011-08-26T23:08:41.035-04:00

A clean sweep in any event is hard but a clean sweep in the marathon is nearly impossible. But the nearly impossible happened today. What a race the Kenyans ran! They were properly prepared and had a plan for the conditions and executed the plans as a team. The Ethiopians seemed so inept and unprepared. On this blog we have on numerous occasions suggested that the Ethiopian coaches need to

welemtahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17293454447470652037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35946489.post-77447755806790756032011-08-26T17:18:00.004-04:002011-08-26T18:48:39.166-04:00

The following chart shows the average personal best times for teams that have 5 runners entered. The Ethiopian Women's team have the best time 2:23:43 followed by Japan 2:25:00. The margin is more than a minute. ETH 2:23:43 JPN 2:25:00 KEN 2:25:32 CHN 2:29:01 UKR 2:29:47 USA 2:32:38 KOR 2:33:16 On paper this is a great team. Two issues that may affect the result: 1) Have the runners ran

welemtahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17293454447470652037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35946489.post-62441296331027218432011-08-26T16:13:00.004-04:002011-08-26T18:21:19.357-04:00

Saturday 27-Aug Women Marathon Women 3000M Steeplechase Heats Men 800M Women 400M Women 10000M Sunday 28-Aug Women 1500M Men 800M Semifinals Women 400M Semifinals Men 10000M Monday 29-Aug Men 3000M Steeplechase Heats Women 400M Finals Tuesday 30-Aug Women 5000M Heats Men 1500 M Heats Women 1500M Semifinals Men 800M Finals Women 3000M Steeplechase Finals Wednesday 31-Aug The only event on this

welemtahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17293454447470652037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35946489.post-83505823968235530272011-08-26T15:42:00.003-04:002011-08-26T16:10:45.353-04:00

There is something fulfilling and satisfying about writing. Right after finishing a blog post I often wonder why I don't post more often. But the truth is there are things we observe and things we do. The things we observe and the things we do require time. Roocha is a combination of both – we observe and we write so it really takes time and energy. Over the past couple of years the things I do

welemtahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17293454447470652037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35946489.post-9440988429222782452010-12-26T23:30:00.000-05:002010-12-26T23:30:19.892-05:00

MEN'S MARATHON: The depth in the men’s Marathon is getting deeper and deeper. Back in the 1990s a sub-2:10 result meant a place in the world elite; today, these times aren’t even enough to enter the world top-100... ...In 2010 the top 18 in this event come only from Kenya (10) and Ethiopia (8)...  ...The talk of the season was Ethiopian World record holder (2:03:59 in 2008) Haile Gebrselassie

roochahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00125211435159381084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35946489.post-65184716315647366372010-11-21T20:56:00.002-05:002010-11-21T21:08:48.802-05:00

Men'sAzmeraw Bekele 29:25 Yenenew Alamirew 29:26Berhanu Bekele 29:27Tigabu Gebremariam 29:30Seboka Nigusse 29:33Women'sSule Utura 33:35Abebech Afework 33:46 Ahaza Kiross 33:59Bizunesh Urgessa 34:01Makeda Arane 34:10Azmeraw Bekele has had a break through year. He had won the Jan Meda cross country championship in Ethiopia and has had a few road race wins including a 30K race in Ethiopia. We have

welemtahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17293454447470652037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35946489.post-64410747631953382012010-11-14T23:05:00.001-05:002010-11-15T00:12:57.634-05:00

As has been speculated by many over the past week, including this writer, Haile Gebrselassie announced today that he has reversed his decision to retire. Here is a video clip of an Ethiopian Television news report in Amharic announcing this development. The announcer is sports journalist, Fiker Yilkal. Translation is below: "Athlete Haile Gebreslassie has announced that he will return

roochahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00125211435159381084noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35946489.post-8788139761582427932010-11-07T20:19:00.004-05:002010-11-07T20:24:28.123-05:00

And just like that Haile is done.“I never think about retiring. For the first time, this is the day. Let me stop and do other work after this. Let me do other jobs. Let me give a chance for the youngsters.” Haile has always been a class act and he will be missed in the running world. But for us Ethiopians, Haile is more than a great runner. He is a positive leader that has infused positive energy

welemtahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17293454447470652037noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35946489.post-23618206311617152232010-11-07T19:58:00.001-05:002010-11-07T20:14:27.284-05:00

The other Geb, Gebre-egziabher Gebremariam, on his Marathon debut displayed the patience of a veteran to win the NYC Marathon. Moment's after Haile exited the race, Mutai, Goumri and Bouramdane picked up the pace. It was a surprised to see a very relaxed Gebre-egziabher Gebremariam among the leaders just gliding along and not pushing anything. When the race was down to him and Mutai, it was

welemtahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17293454447470652037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35946489.post-11461583085779648002010-11-06T11:44:00.000-04:002010-11-06T18:13:01.486-04:00

It took me a while to put my finger on it but the past week there subtle hints that the NYC Marathon is the beginning of Haile's farewell. It feels like Haile has been with us for ages and we have seen seen him achieve so much but Haile can't run forever. Haile has two things he still would like to archive, win an Olympic gold medal and improve his marathon world record. In Ethiopia, all gold

welemtahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17293454447470652037noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35946489.post-7093508315939349952010-10-10T20:48:00.004-04:002010-10-11T19:04:58.001-04:00

We here at which at Roocha have been dormant since the Spring. This has been a year of actully training for a marathon rather than just commenting. But in the mist of a great marathon season it would be a shame not to have a few lines added to this blog. What a great race to watch. I would say Tsegaye and Sammy Wanjiru at this moment are the top two marathon runners in the world. What a battle!

welemtahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17293454447470652037noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35946489.post-50180482488935157022010-04-25T10:25:00.005-04:002010-04-26T19:38:09.837-04:00

Tsegaye Kebede who has been flirting with winning the London Marathon finally earned a huge breakthrough victory by actually winning it. I would venture to say this is the biggest of the major marathon races and is usually decided on a last minute sprint (last year Tsegaye lost to Wanjiru by 10 seconds) but this year Tsegaye won by more than a minute and just 5 seconds off the course record set

welemtahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17293454447470652037noreply@blogger.com1