Run Like The Wind Essay

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Run Like the Wind: A Geographical Look At Kenyan Supremacy in Long Distance Running

In East Africa, there is an area know as the Great Rift Valley. It is in this Great Rift Valley, where the world’s most dominant long distance runners come from, Kenya. In the past three decades, runners from Kenya have simply dominated the sport of long distance running in all facets including cross-country, track, and the marathon. In the world rankings for marathon running, Kenyans hold 8 of the top 10 spots for the men and 6 of the top ten spots in women’s rankings. (Entine, Par. 2) But how can one country be so overpowering in a sport that anyone can participate in? There are a number of factors that all work together to make Kenyan runners the best of the best. Rigorous training regimens, the physical geography of Kenya, country and world support of the athletes, genetics and early participation of children are all factors in the study of why Kenyan runners are by far the best long distance runners in the world. To start off, you must look at the physical geography in which the Kenyans train.
Kenya is located in East Africa and is dominated by the Great Rift Valley. A rift valley developed from faulting …show more content…

First of all, they attend camps with other runners, which means they all run together, constantly pushing each other to go harder, longer and faster. This is much different from say, the United States, where long distance running is more of a personal sport. “Athletes from other countries fear hard training. They run alone, away from others. They are cowards.”--Moses Tanui, Kenya, Third fastest marathoner in history. Moses Tanui runs one of these camps in Kenya, where he hopes to mold young runners into world champions. Most of the camps are located in the highlands of Great Rift Valley, so as to take advantage the ideal training

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