Sylvia Macbean
The Leader-Post
Monday, September 29, 2008
MARYFIELD -- Farmers from the Crossborders Community Project in Maryfield in southeastern Saskatchewan and Kola, Man., came together recently to harvest fields of wheat to be shipped to Ethiopia -- before harvesting their own crops.
"These farmers that were harvesting were doing so with their own crops out on the field,'' said Jan Neufeld of the Kola area of southwestern Manitoba. "As soon as they get these fields finished, they will be going back to finish their own harvest.
"My husband Don and my son Miles put the crop in," she said.
Other farmers helped to sow the crop last spring for the Canadian Foodgrains Bank. All the farm work was donated by farmers.
The crop recently received heavy rains and was downgraded to feed. The wheat was sold to a livestock producer and was being ground into feed after it was delivered to the Kola, Man., mill.
Proceeds from crops are used to provide food for the hungry in developing countries around the world.
This year, crops are being grown by many volunteers groups across Saskatchewan.
Cameron Wiebe and his neighbour, Neil Mehrer, grew Canadian Prairie Spring (CPS) white wheat in the Churchbridge area. The CPS wheat will be sold for either ethanol production or to make flour.
"One neighbour provides the land and one neighbour provides the work. We grew 160 acres in the Churchbridge area. We try and get as much support for the fertilizer and inputs as we can. Some of it will go to an ethanol plant and there are local markets at the elevator as well for this wheat. When you deliver it locally, they just take care of it," Wiebe said. Wiebe plans to harvest their crop next week.
The Wiwi Growing Project in the Gravelbourg-Shamrock area has 10 growers who have signed up to grow and designate several acres of their crops for the Canadian Foodgrains Bank.
"We had asked growers in the area to commit some acres to the project. It should amount to a good donation for the Canadian Foodgrains bank this year," said Mervin Costley, with the Wiwi Growing Project.
"Farmers wanting to donate grain for the Canadian Foodgrains Bank can do so at their local elevator or grain terminal," said Janelle Peterson, resource officer with the Canadian Foodgrains Bank.
A Canadian Foodgrains Bank shipment of 6,400 metric tonnes of Canadian wheat arrived in Ethiopia in August and is being distributed to people impacted by the growing food crisis in Africa.
According to the Famine Early Warning System Network, nearly nine million people in the Horn of Africa need immediate humanitarian assistance in the next three to six months. About four million of those people live in Ethiopia.
Monday, September 29, 2008
Seboka smashes record in win
JAMES CHRISTIE
September 29, 2008
TORONTO -- Mulu Seboka didn't listen to the advice from the master of the marathon, Haile Gebrselassie, but both wound up champions and record-setters on the same day.
The 22-year-old Ethiopian woman set a course record of 2 hours 29 minutes 5 seconds, smashing the previous best for the Scotiabank Waterfront Marathon yesterday morning in a romp across the shores of Lake Ontario. Her time was more than four minutes better than the mark set last year by fellow Ethiopian Asha Gigi, this year's third-place finisher. Olena Shurkhno of Ukraine finished second in the women's race.
"Haile always watches us train in Addis Ababa and he tells me don't practise a lot," said Seboka, who puts in a phenomenal load of roadwork at 280 kilometres a week. Each of her five training days in a week starts with 40 km in the morning, then she runs for another hour in the afternoon.
"He's a father figure to us. He told me to reduce the work level."
Print Edition - Section Front
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More Stories
Bosh expands his horizons
Brewers wild about first playoff trip in 26 years
Winning the West no easy task
Canadian fans will be able to watch the entire playoffs this year
Gathering momentum, Montreal rolls to second lopsided win in a row
Seboka smashes record in win
Go to the section
But Seboka thrives on the high volume. She never has run any distance but the marathon, following her sister into the sport. She said it's the way of women's sport in Ethiopia to take up after a family member. The Olympic 5,000- and 10,000-metre gold medalist, Tirunesh Dibaba, 23, followed a sister, who had followed an aunt in distance running.
Dubbed the "baby-faced destroyer," Dibaba's Olympic prowess has paid of for her with a promotion to the rank of superintendent on her prison police club. She actually outranks the legendary Gebrselassie, who is a major with another police unit.
The winner of the Mumbai Marathon in India earlier this year, Seboka said she runs only two or three competitive races in a season, but the daily workload is the equivalent of more than a marathon.
Her course record and personal best time yesterday was the highlight of the Toronto race. She won by almost a minute over Shurkhno's 2:30:12. Seboka, from the town of Sululta, near Addis Ababa, figures she has more left in her, aiming to take her time down to the 2:22 or 2:23 range by the year's end. She said she came to Toronto because she heard about a flat, fast course where she could post her best time.
Gebrselassie, Ethiopia's 35-year-old running machine, knows about the wear and tear on the body from running.
The multiple Olympic gold medalist at 10,000 metres worked his way up gradually to the classic distance of the marathon (41.195 km) and, hours before the Toronto race, lowered his own world record for the men's race to 2:03:59 for his third consecutive Berlin Marathon win.
Gebrselassie has set 26 world records in his lifetime, "and seeing him break the record today on television was an inspiration just before we went out," Seboka said.
Toronto Waterfront race director Alan Brookes had hoped to see the men's course record fall for the second consecutive year. Organizers invested about $35,000 of the $350,000 budget in rabbits who kept the race at a record pace through the first half. However, hard winds slowed the field coming up the Leslie Street spit in the second half of the race. No one came close to the 2:09:30 notched last year when John Kelai of Kenya ran the fastest marathon ever run in Canada.
This year Kelai finished fifth, while fellow Kenyan Kenneth Mungara won in 2:11:09. "I tried to go for a 2:09, but I didn't make it," Mungara said.
"At around 30 kilometres the wind was so strong we couldn't keep the time," said second-place finisher Peter Kiprotich of Kenya, who clocked 2:11:02, holding a lead twice but losing touch on the final sprint to Nathan Phillips Square. Ethiopia's Amersisa Ketema was third in 2:11:51.
The top Canadian finishers were Suzanne Evans of New Westminster, B.C., ninth among the women in 2:44:22, her first sub-2:45 run, and Dylan Wykes of Kingston, Ont., who placed 11th among the men at 2:16:20.
Wykes said his goal is to get to next year's world championship marathon in Berlin.
"It would be my next big step ... If I am selected, I'd stay away from marathons for the next year and get back to 10 km and half marathons."
September 29, 2008
TORONTO -- Mulu Seboka didn't listen to the advice from the master of the marathon, Haile Gebrselassie, but both wound up champions and record-setters on the same day.
The 22-year-old Ethiopian woman set a course record of 2 hours 29 minutes 5 seconds, smashing the previous best for the Scotiabank Waterfront Marathon yesterday morning in a romp across the shores of Lake Ontario. Her time was more than four minutes better than the mark set last year by fellow Ethiopian Asha Gigi, this year's third-place finisher. Olena Shurkhno of Ukraine finished second in the women's race.
"Haile always watches us train in Addis Ababa and he tells me don't practise a lot," said Seboka, who puts in a phenomenal load of roadwork at 280 kilometres a week. Each of her five training days in a week starts with 40 km in the morning, then she runs for another hour in the afternoon.
"He's a father figure to us. He told me to reduce the work level."
Print Edition - Section Front
Enlarge Image
More Stories
Bosh expands his horizons
Brewers wild about first playoff trip in 26 years
Winning the West no easy task
Canadian fans will be able to watch the entire playoffs this year
Gathering momentum, Montreal rolls to second lopsided win in a row
Seboka smashes record in win
Go to the section
But Seboka thrives on the high volume. She never has run any distance but the marathon, following her sister into the sport. She said it's the way of women's sport in Ethiopia to take up after a family member. The Olympic 5,000- and 10,000-metre gold medalist, Tirunesh Dibaba, 23, followed a sister, who had followed an aunt in distance running.
Dubbed the "baby-faced destroyer," Dibaba's Olympic prowess has paid of for her with a promotion to the rank of superintendent on her prison police club. She actually outranks the legendary Gebrselassie, who is a major with another police unit.
The winner of the Mumbai Marathon in India earlier this year, Seboka said she runs only two or three competitive races in a season, but the daily workload is the equivalent of more than a marathon.
Her course record and personal best time yesterday was the highlight of the Toronto race. She won by almost a minute over Shurkhno's 2:30:12. Seboka, from the town of Sululta, near Addis Ababa, figures she has more left in her, aiming to take her time down to the 2:22 or 2:23 range by the year's end. She said she came to Toronto because she heard about a flat, fast course where she could post her best time.
Gebrselassie, Ethiopia's 35-year-old running machine, knows about the wear and tear on the body from running.
The multiple Olympic gold medalist at 10,000 metres worked his way up gradually to the classic distance of the marathon (41.195 km) and, hours before the Toronto race, lowered his own world record for the men's race to 2:03:59 for his third consecutive Berlin Marathon win.
Gebrselassie has set 26 world records in his lifetime, "and seeing him break the record today on television was an inspiration just before we went out," Seboka said.
Toronto Waterfront race director Alan Brookes had hoped to see the men's course record fall for the second consecutive year. Organizers invested about $35,000 of the $350,000 budget in rabbits who kept the race at a record pace through the first half. However, hard winds slowed the field coming up the Leslie Street spit in the second half of the race. No one came close to the 2:09:30 notched last year when John Kelai of Kenya ran the fastest marathon ever run in Canada.
This year Kelai finished fifth, while fellow Kenyan Kenneth Mungara won in 2:11:09. "I tried to go for a 2:09, but I didn't make it," Mungara said.
"At around 30 kilometres the wind was so strong we couldn't keep the time," said second-place finisher Peter Kiprotich of Kenya, who clocked 2:11:02, holding a lead twice but losing touch on the final sprint to Nathan Phillips Square. Ethiopia's Amersisa Ketema was third in 2:11:51.
The top Canadian finishers were Suzanne Evans of New Westminster, B.C., ninth among the women in 2:44:22, her first sub-2:45 run, and Dylan Wykes of Kingston, Ont., who placed 11th among the men at 2:16:20.
Wykes said his goal is to get to next year's world championship marathon in Berlin.
"It would be my next big step ... If I am selected, I'd stay away from marathons for the next year and get back to 10 km and half marathons."
Ethiopia blames Islamist group for weekend blast
ADDIS ABABA (AFP) — Ethiopian police on Monday blamed an Islamist rebel group for a weekend explosion that killed four people and wounded 22 others in the country's eastern region.
The police chief of the Somali province in eastern Ethiopian, where the incident occurred, said a suspect had confessed to being a member of the Al-Ittihad Al-Islamiya operating in the region.
"We are in the process of hunting down two other suspects identified by the individual in charge of the blast who is already under our custody," Yusuf Mahmoud Mussai told AFP.
"He has confessed that he is a member of al-Ittihad al-Islamiya."
Al-Ittihad al-Islamiya was formed in 1984 in northern Somalia which borders Ethiopia's restive eastern region, where another rebel group -- also formed the in same year -- operates.
The government has also repeatedly blamed the Islamist group for earlier attacks in the capital, Addis Ababa.
The Somali province has been hit by a series of attacks attributed to separatist rebels in recent years.
Last year, the army launched an offensive against the Ogaden Nation Liberation Front after they attacked a Chinese-run oil venture and killed 77 people.
The police chief of the Somali province in eastern Ethiopian, where the incident occurred, said a suspect had confessed to being a member of the Al-Ittihad Al-Islamiya operating in the region.
"We are in the process of hunting down two other suspects identified by the individual in charge of the blast who is already under our custody," Yusuf Mahmoud Mussai told AFP.
"He has confessed that he is a member of al-Ittihad al-Islamiya."
Al-Ittihad al-Islamiya was formed in 1984 in northern Somalia which borders Ethiopia's restive eastern region, where another rebel group -- also formed the in same year -- operates.
The government has also repeatedly blamed the Islamist group for earlier attacks in the capital, Addis Ababa.
The Somali province has been hit by a series of attacks attributed to separatist rebels in recent years.
Last year, the army launched an offensive against the Ogaden Nation Liberation Front after they attacked a Chinese-run oil venture and killed 77 people.
Ethiopian breaks own world marathon mark
Haile Gebrselassie smashed his marathon world record by 27 seconds, winning the Berlin Marathon in a city where he has had so much success. Gebrselassie, 35, of Ethiopia, took advantage of excellent conditions on a flat course to finish in 2hours, 3minutes, 59seconds. Despite an ailing calf, he shattered the mark he set in Berlin last year and became the first man to win this race three times. Gebrselassie thanked the crowd of about 1 million for helping him set his 26th world record. Gebrselassie first ran in Berlin in 2006 and clocked 2:05:56 before breaking the world record last year. In three years, he has improved nearly two minutes on his time. "Berlin is my lucky city," Gebrselassie said.
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