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African Swifties

When picking winners, King Solomon observed, “The race is not always to the swift, nor the battle to the strong” (Ecc 9:11). Around the turn of the 20th century, a sportswriter added a corollary to Solomon’s observation, “The race may not always be to the swift but that is the best way to bet.” Recent headlines could expand this betting tip to read, “Among the swift, put your money on an African.”

On April 15th, The Voice, Britain’s newspaper for its African-Caribbean community featured, “Kenya and Ethiopia Triumphant.” The title comes from the nationalities of the men’s and women’s winners of the Marathon de Paris, “the biggest marathon on Earth.” All six runners on the podium, as well as last year’s winners, came from the Horn of Africa.

The South China Morning Post on April 18th reported, “Kenyan Runner’s 14km Daily Journey to Hong Kong Marathon Success.” The article is an interview with Rutto Bethwell Kipkemboi about how this Kenyon trained to win on the streets of Hong Kong. Kipkemboi observed, “Out of all the marathons I have run, this was the toughest because of the elevation. Other races are more flat.” Kipkemboi noted that wherever he competes, the top finishers are from either Kenya or Ethiopia.

Al Jazeera on April 19th carried the headline, “African Athletes Find Their Feet in Vietnam’s Marathon Running Boom.” The rising affluence of Vietnam, coupled with an urban middle-class concerned with staying fit, has led to the nation’s embrace of long distance running.  In turn, “Vietnam’s many marathons and lucrative prizes of thousands of dollars for winners are now attracting high-performing athletes … from the elite running centres of East Africa.” This year’s winner of the Ho Chi Minh City Marathon was from Ethiopia. The prize money will help him expand his family farm outside the Ethiopian capital.

The Bible refers to people from the Horn of Africa as “Cushites” (Dan 11:43). The Cushites were often the adversaries of Israel (2 Chr 12:3). However, there was one instance where  a Cushite ran a race for Israel. During the civil war between King David and his son Absalom, a Cushite was selected to be the runner to bring news of the war’s end to King David (2Sa 18:21).  The Cushite’s run became a race when a man named Ahimaaz wanted to be the first to bring this news to King David, “’Come what may, I want to run.’ So the general said, ‘Run!’ Then Ahimaaz ran by way of the plain and outran the Cushite” (2Sa 18:23). The Cushite only lost the race because his rival knew the course better than he did.

The unexpected outcome between Ahimaaz and the Cushite may have been the reason King Solomon, (David’s son) wrote those earlier verses, “The race is not always to the swift, nor the battle to the strong” (Ecc 9:11). If Ho Chi Minh City, Hong Kong and Paris are fair examples of Cushite preeminence, the race to bring war news to King David may have been the only time it was unwise to put your money on a Cushite.