Press Release – Tuesday 17 October 2023
Tim Hutchings, one of the best-known international TV commentators in world athletics, will be among the international guests attending the 2023 Sofi Malt Great Ethiopian Run International 10km on Sunday 19th November 2023.
It will be the first visit to Ethiopia for Hutchings, even though he has been commentating on races featuring Ethiopian athletes for the past 30 years.
“I can’t wait to get out to Addis and meet so many of the athletes I know so well from my commentary work. To see them in their home city and to be a guest at this very special international road race will be one of the highlights of my year.”
For the past 30 years Hutchings has commentated at global championship events and big-city marathons and road races throughout Europe, Asia and North America. Earlier this year he was the lead commentator at the 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest and then commentated for the BBC at the Diamond League Final in Eugene, Oregon when Gudaf Tsegay broke the women’s 5,000m record.
Before becoming an athletics commentator, Hutchings had an illustrious career as an athlete and represented the British athletics team at the Olympics and world championships. He finished 4th in the 1984 Olympic 5,000m and won the silver medal at the World Cross Country Championships in 1985 and 1989.
Throughout his career as a commentator, Hutchings has commentated on most of the world records set by both Kenenisa Bekele and Haile Gebrselassie, and in recent years Tim and Haile have become good friends. During his visit to Addis Ababa, Hutchings will appear alongside South Africa’s Elana Meyer at the pre-race press conference on Friday 17th November and be a guest at the children’s races on the Saturday and the main event on Sunday morning. The 2023 Sofi Malt Great Ethiopian Run International 10km takes place on Sunday 19th November. A few places are allocated for the annual Running for a cause campaign only on telebirr with a prize of 1200 ETB.
For more information, please contact:
Hilina Negussie, Great Ethiopian Run Marketing & Communications Director
Mob: 0911 601710
Email: hilina@ethiopianrun.org
