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The 2024 Sofi Malt Lake Hawassa Half Marathon takes place on Sunday 11th February 2024.
The 12th edition of the Lake Hawassa Half Marathon will take place on Sunday 11th of February 2024. The event consists of a half-marathon, an 8km and children’s races. The 8km and children’s races start and finish in front of St. Gebriel Church (Smuda Monument) in the centre of Hawassa. The 21km starts in front of Gash Hussen house (Loqe area) and part of the half marathon route runs along the lake shore. There will be shower, water & entertainment stations along the course. The race will finish at in front of St. Gebriel Church (Smuda Monument).
If you have further questions you can contact us via our office phone number +251 116 635 757 or email address info@ethiopianrun.org
The 2024 Sofi Malt Lake Hawassa Half Marathon takes place on Sunday 11th February 2024.
To get the full information about our package CLICK HERE
Polio
Poliomyelitis, or polio, is a paralyzing and potentially fatal disease that still threatens children in some parts of the world. Poliovirus invades the nervous system and can cause total paralysis in hours. It can strike people of any age but mainly affects children under five. Polio can be prevented by vaccines, but it is not curable. Unlike most diseases, polio can be eradicated.
PolioPlus
For more than 30 years, Rotary and our partners have driven the effort to eradicate polio worldwide. Our PolioPlus program was the first initiative to tackle global polio eradication by vaccinating children on a massive scale. As a core partner in the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, Rotary focuses on advocacy, fundraising, volunteer recruitment, and awareness-building.
Rotary members have contributed more than $2.1 billion and countless volunteer hours to protect more than 2.5 billion children in 122 countries from this paralyzing disease. Rotary’s advocacy efforts have played a role in decisions by governments to contribute more than $10 billion to the effort.
Polio Today
When Rotary and its partners formed the GPEI in 1988, there were 350,000 cases of polio in 125 countries every year. Today, we have reduced polio cases by 99.9 percent, and just two countries continue to report cases of wild poliovirus: Afghanistan and Pakistan. Because of the efforts of Rotary and its partners, nearly 19 million people who would otherwise have been paralyzed are walking, and more than 1.5 million people are alive who would otherwise have died. The infrastructure we helped build to end polio is also being used to treat and prevent other diseases (including COVID-19) and create lasting impact in other areas of public health.
Challenges
Rotary and our partners have made tremendous progress against polio, but eliminating all cases is going to take even more progress and perseverance. Afghanistan and Pakistan face unique challenges, including political insecurity, highly mobile populations, difficult terrain, and, in some instances, vaccine refusal and misinformation. With sufficient resources, the commitment of national governments, and innovations that improve access to remote areas, we are optimistic that we can eliminate polio.
Ensuring Success
Rotary has committed to raising $50 million per year for polio eradication. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has pledged to match that 2-to-1, for a total commitment of $150 million each year. These funds provide much-needed operational support, medical workers, laboratory equipment, and educational materials. Governments, corporations, and private donors all play a crucial role in funding.
Rotary in Action
More than 1 million Rotary members have donated their time and money to eradicate polio, and every year, hundreds of members work with health workers to vaccinate children in countries affected by polio. Rotary members work with UNICEF and other partners to prepare and distribute informational materials for people in areas that are isolated by conflict, geography, or poverty. They also mobilize to recruit fellow volunteers, assist in transporting the vaccine, and provide other logistical support.
Celebrity Support
Rotary has a growing list of public figures and celebrities who support our fight against polio, including Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; actresses Kristen Bell and Archie Panjabi; actor and wrestling superstar John Cena; supermodel Isabeli Fontana; Nobel Peace Prize laureate Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu; action-movie star Jackie Chan; actor Donald Sutherland; boxing great Manny Pacquiao; pop star Psy; golf legend Jack Nicklaus; conservationist Jane Goodall; premier violinist Itzhak Perlman; Grammy Award winners A.R. Rahman, Angélique Kidjo, and Ziggy Marley; and peace advocate Queen Noor of Jordan. These ambassadors help Rotary educate the public about the disease and the fight to end polio for good.
Our international 21 km is a very special running experience.
The race is for all runners of advanced levels.
At the front end, it attracts an impressive field of elite runners, but its main purpose has always been to encourage mass participation in running and judging by the ever-increasing demand for race places it has succeeded.
Go Green 2022-23 Plan
ACTION 1: WE WILL MINIMISE CARBON EMISSIONS
We are promoting “3km of walking per day” to get us all to think more about walking in place of making short car journeys.
We encourage participants living in close proximity (3km radius) to race venue to walk to and back from race venue on race day.
We are also encouraging our participants to use public transport and shared car transport for arriving at and returning from the race.
We will deploy electric cars to lead the elite race.
ACTION 2: WE WILL RECYCLE WHEREVER POSSIBLE
As in the past year’s race, we have used recyclable (eco-friendly) materials in the production of our race t-shirts & goody bags. We have continued our partnership with PETCO to collect and recycle all plastic bottles and other rubbish consumed and produced on race day.
ACTION 3: WE WILL ENCOURAGE DISPOSAL OF RUBBISH
Rubbish bins will be placed along the race course every 250m.
We’ll also put more portable toilets on race course
ACTION 4: WE WILL USE LESS PLASTIC
This year we are using a lighter water bottle for participants to make it easier for recycling. Our goody bag is also made of a non-plastic material which can be reused for shopping by participants.
ACTION 5: WE WILL USE LESS PAPER
We no longer use paper for registering participants. All registration has been done electronically.
Participants also receive their race magazine electronically in place of printed magazines.
We use more e-posters, e-fliers, e-invites
Re-use scrap papers for internal communication purposes
We put a disclaimer: “think about the environment before you print this email” on all our electronic communications as a reminder to our stakeholders.
ACTION 6: WE WILL WORK TO CREATE AWARENESS ABOUT ENVIRONMENT
Putting Go Green logo on every promotional materials
Scheduled (weekly/monthly) posts on social media about environment and GER’s Go Green 5 strands
Run social media campaigns to Teach/Train/Encourage people not to throw rubbish in their day to day activities
We invite all our participants and stakeholders to join us in this campaign and to contribute positively to the sustainability of our environment.
