‘old events’ Section
On 11th July 2010 twelve runners participated in the British 10k Run in London in the aid of ERA-UK�s projects in Eritrea. However, a thirteen runner, Niyat Samuel was unable to run on the day due to ill health and ERA-UK wishes her a speedy recovery.
One of the runners, Juliet, was six months pregnant and she celebrated her engagement to another runner, Alan, on the day. ERA-UK would like to congratulate the happy couple on their engagement. We also would like to thank Iyassu Yohannes, who runs every year for the last 4 years in support of our causes. All runners finished in good health and it took them between 45 minutes to 1 hour and 20 minutes.
After the race, all the runners and their friends and family, and members of trustees directors of ERA-UK had an Eritrean style picnic at St. James Park. The foods and drinks were donated by Fiori Belay as a show of her support to ERA-UK�s activities. ERA-UK would like to take this opportunity to thank Fiori for her unreserved support she has shown over the past years.
The amount the runners wanted to raise was £3600. So far between them they have raised [£waiting to get the final figure]. We would like to thank to everyone who supported our runners by sponsoring them and we asked them to continue their support for ERA-UK in future.
London is on the eve of a great event which takes place early tomorrow, Sunday morning, 26th April. That is the renowned
London Marathon 2009. 36,000 runners are expected to be taking part and the buzz in this city is simply electric.
Eritrea has got two champions lined up, Zeresenay Tadesse and Yonas Kifle. Both are fearsome contenders and are in
great shape and excellent spirit.
We at ERA-UK also have one charity runner, Habtom Tesfay, who is raising funds for children affected by HIV/AIDS in
Eritrea. Visit his web page at. http://www.justgiving.com/habtomtesfay
Habtom is leading by example on what young people can do in an organised way for their country, and for this we are so
proud of him.
So Eritrea is being represented on all fronts, the National and the Humanitarian levels. It is absolutely brilliant.
Meb Keflezighi is running for US, his adopted country. Meb has never forgotten his native land and would it not be wonderful
if all three of them come tops tomorrow!!!!!
Meeting Yonas Kifle, London Marathon Runner
Yonas, representing Eritrea, ran the Flora London Marathon on Sunday 13th April 2008 and completed it in 2:8:51 hrs.
Yonas was running in the fore front along the elite runners until 19 miles into the race when his shoes started to chafe his
feet. He was forced to slow his pace and came out 7th maintaining his status among the top ten professionals. Yonas, at
30 is a rising star of Eritrean champions with a steely determination to reach his highest potential.
The Eritrean Relief Association (UK) invited Yonas to dinner at Adulis Restaurant on 14th April where he met with the charity
runners who will be participating in the British 10K London Run on 6th July 2008. In a relaxed atmosphere members
exchanged views and experiences and Yonas was pleased to learn how Eritreans here organized fundraising events for
identified development projects in Eritrea. Yonas encouraged everyone to keep up such activities and wished everyone
success in their efforts.
Another up and coming champion is 14 year-old Simon Russom who ran the London Mini Marathonon Sunday for the Eritrean
Youth Club in London. Simon who has been running for the last three years (this being his fourth and best) completed the race
in 19 minutes and won second place for Islington Council. Let�s hope this occasion of meeting Yonas Kifle will prompt young
Simon to greater heights. Â Eritrean Relief Association (ERA-UK) wish to thank Yonas for attending our invitation to meet our
charity runners and above all for his courage and inspiration to other young people. We wish him every success in the future.
