Solomon Bekele
30 December 2007
Addis Ababa — A 275 Kms race covering ten towns in the Oromia and the SNNPRS, including the capital Addis Ababa will be conducted on Saturday in the intention of promoting peace, harmony, and peaceful co-existence among the people, the Ministry of Youth and Sports disclosed on Thursday.
The race named: Ethiopian Millennium Harmony Run will begin early in the morning on Saturday in Addis Ababa and will end in Awassa in the SNNPRS on Sunday, according to race coordinator Yossef Daimo.
"The 275 km harmony run is organized in a relay in which all the 27 athletes will run only 10 kms each. This is not a competition. As the name suggests it is a run that is intended to create harmony, awareness and peaceful co-existence among the people," he told a press conference at his office.
According to the coordinator, the athletes will relay-run to Ziway, 160km South of Addis Ababa, through Dukem, Debrezeit, Mojo, Alem Tena and Meki.
The second day run begins in Zeway early on Sunday to go through Bulbula, Arsi Negele, Shashemene and Awasa where the run is destined to conclude.
Some of the big names in athletic will not take part, though, owing to earlier international commitments.
Thus, Great athletes Haile Gebresellasie, Kenenisa Bekele, Derartu Tulu, Tirunesh Dibaba and Meseret Defar will not run the race.
"Our international athletes had shown interest to participate in this grand event. But all of them have international commitment this time. So we have opted for the remaining national athletes to participate in the relay," Yosef said.
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