A few days ago, a story sent a shiver down the spine of many an East African sports fan: the era of Ethiopian, Kenyan, and (to a lesser extent) Ugandan marathon dominance might be drawing to a close.
Not because rival runners had suddenly found new secret to beat them, but because the planet itself was getting too hot to run on.
As the world warms, Bloomberg reported that marathon runners are adapting: training at cooler hours, moving indoors to avoid heat exhaustion and heatstroke, and doubling down on moisture-wicking apparel, cooling headbands, and, for the richer ones, climate chambers.
And here is where the story gets uncomfortable for us. A Rift Valley runner once needed nothing more than a single pair of shoes and standard cotton shorts and T-shirts.
Add technical gear, and the entry threshold climbs steeply. A climate chamber costs about $100,000 (Tsh265 million). No upstart athlete has that kind of money.
