Run in the USA – ESFNA 2023
CELEBRATING OUR ATHLETICS HERITAGE
The second edition of the Run in the USA ESFNA was staged in Dallas/Wylie, Texas at the Founders park on the 7th July 2023 as part of the 40th anniversary of ESFNA sport and cultural annual festival under the slogan “Honoring the fathers of Ethiopian Athletics”, The ESFNA soccer and cultural events took place from 2-8 July 2023 at the Wylie Stadium.
The Ethiopian Sport Federation in North America (ESFNA) has partnered last year with Deenk Ethiopian Brand Consultant, a marketing and event management company founded by Ermias Ayele to add a running and jogging event to its annual soccer tournament to celebrate Ethiopian athletics heritage and running tradition.
The Running event included 5km adults and 1mile and shorter distances for children under 3 age categories. Participants registered online and physically during the ESFNA festival. To support good cause the ESFNA and Deenk Ethiopian have agreed to donate 5% of registration fee to support Meseret Humanitarian Organization working to empower women throughout Ethiopia. A four weeks training plan and a short video was made by Olympic medalist partner of the event athlete Assefa Mezgebu and was shared to participants.
The first edition of the running event was staged during the 2022 ESFNA annual festival in Maryland. Detail about the 3rd edition of the running event will shared when the host city for the 2024 ESFNA annual festival is selected.
DEENK ETHIOPIA TEAM
Deenk Ethiopia Brand Consultant is cofounded by Ermias Ayele who has lead the biggest road race in Africa for over eleven year and has an extensive event management experience. Ermias a keen fun runner and has finished the 2023 Rome Marathon barefoot to honor the father of Ethiopian Athletics, Abebe Bikila. Abebe’s historic victory at the 1960 Rome Olympics Marathon where he won barefoot is where the seeds of Ethiopian athletics were planted.
Two other Deenk Ethiopia team members are:
Athlete Assefa Mezgebu renowned Ethiopian Olympic medalist who is well known for the role he played at the 2000 Sydney Olympics 10,000m doing the team work with Haile which was very important for Haile’s neck to neck victory with Paul Tergat. Assefa has done his degree in Sport Management from the University of South Carolina. https://worldathletics.org/athletes/ethiopia/assefa-mezgebu-14181579
Tebabu Assefa works in media to promote African culture, and his use of stories to excite markets for African products has resulted in a new model, which creates international market linkages for higher-value and profit-sharing with farmers to foster and advance economic and social development.