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From: Eri-International Sports Comments (michael.seium@gmail.com)
Date: Wed Jun 01 2011 - 11:09:28 EDT
As the celebrations for Eritrea's 20 years of independence continue
throughout the summer, the work of Eritrean athletes at the
international stage especially in running continues. This weekend alone
three Eritrean runners Eshak Abraham, Solomon Meherteab and Oqubit
Berhane all had excellent results in three different events. Eshak
Abraham who was making his debut at the Comacina Race in Italy won the
race as an underdog while Solomon Meherteab took second place at the
10K London Bupa classic, meanwhile Oqubit Berhane sporting his Eritrean
national color jersey won the Swiss half Marathon race with a time of 1
hour and 16 minutes. The story of Eritrea's running success is
something to be proud of as the sport is somewhat new for this
northeast African nation that makes Cycling and soccer it's number one
sport.
The successful campaign for the sport of running in Eritrea which
started in the early 2000 by an organization known as EAAA(Eritrean
American Athletics Association) and the Eritrean Athletics federation
has produced some great athletes. While Meb Kiflezghi continues to be
the best American long distance runner at the moment since Steve
Prefontaine, Frank Shorter, and Alberto Salazar, the world record
holder in the Half Marathon Zeresenay Tadesse is the biggest name
athlete to come out of Eritrea. Zeresenay a humble and wise human being
won the bronze medal in the 10,000 meter in Athens in his first debut
at the Olympics while Meb too silver in the marathon representing the
USA.
Meanwhile the heart warming story of Steve Prefontaine an American icon
of the sport in the 1970's is something that touches the human spirit.
You see this young man was to the sport of running what Michael Jordan
was to the sport of basketball. Prefontaine broke all kinds of records
and was an international sports hero for many athletes. In his home
state of Oregon he became a legend and today the town of Eugene home to
the University of Oregon serves as running and athletics international
center. Steve Prefontaine died in a car accident on May 30th, 1975 at
the very young and tender age of 24 years. His legacy as a running
legend however continues to this date and in his home state of Oregon
each year since his death a track and field event known as the
PREFONTAINE CLASSIC takes place.
In what will be an awesome competition of the best runners in the world
on Friday June 3rd, 2011 at this years portion of the Prefontaine
Classic many top notch long distance runners from Ethiopia, Kenya and
other countries will be competing along side of Eritrea's top runners.
Zeresenay Tadesse along with brother Kidane Tadesse and Teklemariam
Medhin will be going at it in the 10,000 meter run. As in the Athens
Olympics the Ethiopian squad will be lead by Sileshi Sihne and a few
more new runners, while the Kenyans will be lead by John Cheriyuot and
Danile Salel after the very sad death last week of Sam Wanjiru. Wanjiru
was probably the best representative of the new generation runners for
Kenya and the actual sport of running alongside Zeresenay and others.
May he rest in peace. This event will be televised on NBC sports and
while NBC will air Saturday's activities Live, we will have to wait and
see how the 10,000 meters event will fare on Friday evening. The meet
which takes place in Hayward near Eugene Oregon is open to the public
and those who live nearby can go and see the Eritrean contingent. The
10,000 meter begins at 8:50 PM in the evening. Mean while here is a
list of the competition field,
10,000 METERS
Zersenay Tedese (Eritrea)
Sileshe Sihine (Ethiopia)
Imane Merga (Ethiopia)
Aylele Abshero (Ethiopia)
Abebe Dinkesa (Ethiopia)
Abera Kuma (Ethiopia)
Daniel Salel (Kenya)
Lucas Rotich (Kenya)
Teklemariam Mehdin (Eritrea)
Kidane Tadesse (Eritrea)
John Kemboi Cheruyiot (Kenya)
Shawn Forrest (Australia)
Reid Coolsaet (Canada)
Leonard Komon (Kenya)
Matthew Kisorio (Kenya)
Paul Tanui (Kenyan)
Ali Mahboob (Bahrain)
Josphat Bett (Kenya)
Mohammad Ali Aboosh (Ethiopia)
Micah Kogo (Kenya)
Moses Masai (Kenya)
Joseph Ebuya (Kenya)
Mike Kigen (Kenya)
Dennis Masai (Kenya)
Abdi Abdirahman
Dejene Gebremeskel (Ethiopia)
For more information and schedule just click on the following website
link for the Prefontaine Classic
http://www.runnerspace.com/eprofile.php?do=title&title_id=251&event_id=120
Welcome to the USA Zeresenay Tadesse, Kidane Tadesse and Teklemariam
Medhin and good luck. Meanwhile to the rest of Eritrean runners who are
pouring in the awards congratulations! May the 2011 London Olympics
bring gold, silver and bronze for Eritrea. To quote the runner whose
name this event is named after Steve Prefontaine "A lot of people run a
race to see who is the fastest, I run to see who has the most guts" and
we shall wait and see who has the most guts.
For Eri-International sportsMike Seium
-- Posted By Eri-International Sports Comments to Eri-International Sports at 6/01/2011 08:09:00 AM----[This List to be used for Eritrea Related News Only]----