Bekoji, a rural town in central Ethiopia, is at first glance hardly a star-studded place by most people’s standards. From what the lens shows us in Town Of Runners it’s mostly a village with deep red-tinged soil, modest homesteads and forested hills – well, forested hills constantly vibrating with the pitter patter of jogging feet as they hit the ground under the watchful eye of Coach Sentayehu Eshetu.
Over three years we follow the journey of Hawii and Alemi, two teenage female friends from Bekoji, as they both go from beneath Coach Eshetu’s wing to the big bad world of national athletics: the ultimate goal is to follow in the footsteps of previous gold medal-hoarding trainees Tirunesh Dibeba and Kenenisa Bekele and compete at international level in the Olympics, IAAF and other huge track and field events.
Click the pic to watch the trailer.