Uganda is home to the Olympic marathon champion, so where are all the runners?

Plotting a distance route through the country, I was constantly joined by cheering locals, but they face challenges when it comes to pursuing the sport for its health benefits

East Africa is the home of distance running. And, for the first half of 2015, I was lucky enough to live in a small town in Uganda, while organising a marathon. I knew that running was a big deal there, not least as home to 2012 Olympic marathon gold medallist Stephen Kiprotich. Yet, while that’s undoubtedly true at an elite level, the everyday running scene is far from established.

I never had a run in Uganda where I wasn’t joined by cheering locals; children holding my hand and running alongside me (barefoot, barely out of breath). And there’s a reason that distance runners come to east Africa to train seriously: the views are spectacular, the altitude is challenging, the paths are bouncy dirt; my legs have never known hill training like it.

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from Health & wellbeing | The Guardian http://ift.tt/1VLkOq0
via health