Boston Marathon Dominated by Ethiopians: Why do the Ethiopians keep winning?
The winners of Monday's Boston Marathon are in, and Ethiopians for the first time ever swept the men's and women's races, taking five of the six winning spots in a race that had been dominated by Kenyans for decades.
Whether it's Ethiopians or Kenyans who dominate the top ranks of the world's most competitive marathons, both east African countries are running powerhouses. The world's best runners come from three mountainous districts near the Rift Valley in Africa, according to the BBC: Nandi in Kenya and Arsi and Shewa in Ethiopia.
Out of 149 male marathon performances faster than 2 hour and 10 minutes in 2013, 80 were by Kenyans, 47 by Ethiopians, and eight by Eritreans and Ugandans, who are from the same region and of similar ethnicity, as Runner's World reports. Of the 300 best men runners in the world in 2014, 246 were east African. While the women's ratios are less extreme, they are becoming more so every year, reports the running magazine. What makes people from this region exceptional runners is a question that many are trying to answer.
Some people suggest that because East African runners train at high altitudes, they have increased red blood cells which helps them excel at endurance sports. But as Ben Oakley, head of Childhood, Youth and Sport at Open University in Milton Keynes, England, and a former Olympic coach, points out to the BBC, this doesn't explain why there aren't more great runners from the Mexican Andes and from large parts of central Asia.
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