9Lives Magazine - 9Lives - Town of Runners Special Edition

In this issue

A candid enquiry into the motivation and winning habits of Ethiopia’s long-distance runners. Adapted from British director Jerry Rothwell’s celebrated documentary film, enhanced with new characters and previously unseen material. 9Lives traces the modern-day alchemy of Ethiopia's gold medal-winning Olympians to the rural town of Bekoji, an isolated hilltop which is home to a phenomenal proportion of the world’s finest long-distance athletes:
“Raw universal laws of running…that can override poverty and even hunger” -- The RunningBug.com
9Lives-Town of Runners is a must-read survey for runners and armchair philosophers alike. The diverse cast includes teenage runners and best-friends Alemi and Hawii, triple-Olympic gold medalist Tirunesh Didaba (10,000 metres, London 2012) and local boy Biruk who sells soap and matches through the window of his grandmother’s kiosk. A compelling portrait of disciplined ambition, and a measure of Africa's changing place in the world.