Bekoji, the high-altitude, thin-air cradle of Ethiopian distance running, was at it again on Sunday. The town that has minted more Olympic and World Championship gold than most small nations hosted the fifth edition of the Ethio Telecom Great Bekoji Run.
The event wasn’t just a local dust-up. It doubled as a crucial fixture in the Ministry of Tourism’s Discover Ethiopia Classics initiative—a nationwide program smartly designed to weave athletics, culture, and sports tourism into a cohesive brand.
Over 100 elite athletes showed up to test their lungs, hammering out a gruelling 12-kilometre course alongside more than 2,500 residents. Another 70-plus recreational runners made the trek up from Addis Ababa to get a taste of the legendary Arsi Zone clay. Crucially, the event didn’t neglect the grassroots, staging under-15 and under-11 youth races to help cultivate the next generation of East African powerhouse runners.
In the senior men’s division, Mamo Hachalu outlasted the field to take the crown, followed closely by Aman Kadi and Alye Qasim to round out the podium. The women’s race saw Mahlet Kassahun take top honours, with Kia Fisha and Dirbe Irko crossing the line in second and third, respectively.
For the uninitiated, Bekoji is holy ground in the running world. This is the birthplace of absolute royalty: Derartu Tulu, Kenenisa Bekele, and the peerless Dibaba sisters, Tirunesh and Genzebe.
Recognizing this unparalleled heritage, the Ministry of Tourism is aggressively positioning Bekoji as a flagship destination for international sports tourism. The objective is twofold: leverage the town’s mythic athletic status to draw global visitors, while simultaneously injecting much-needed economic development into the local community through the Discover Ethiopia Classics series.
For the elites, it was a payday and a stepping stone. But for the thousands of recreational and youth runners on hand, the allure was much purer: a rare chance to stride through the same red dust that forged the greatest distance runners the world has ever seen.
