Kenya's Rift Valley, where everyone runs

Kenya produces some of the world's very best distance runners, but the possibility of winning Olympic gold is not the only incentive for the country's athletes.

On the drive up into the lush hills of Iten, 2,600m (8,530ft) above sea level, we pass groups of children on their way to school.

The odd one is dawdling in a way that would seem familiar anywhere in the world, but most are running - and running fast - with a carrier bag of books swinging from one hand.

One 13-year old boy called Kenneth tells me how he runs back and forth to school every day and even runs back home for lunch.

Each run takes 40 minutes, but he has long, lean legs and says he likes it.

Like a lot of children living in the hills of western Kenya when he grows up, he wants to be an athlete. Why? Because, he tells me, then he could afford to help his family and his whole village.

With heroes like David Rudisha who holds the 800m world record, the children see that athletics can be an escape from poverty, but runners here are so good that the competition is stiff.

The times that would guarantee you a place on the national team of many European countries would leave you as one of many runners-up in Kenya.

But this exceptional pool of talent brings athletes another opportunity.

An hour from the green, peace of Iten I pull over by a line of single storey white-washed building with rusty corrugated iron roofs.

The fence which keeps the cows away is draped with shiny tracksuits - purple, red and black - drying in the sun. This is a training camp for the young people with one aim in mind - to use their running talent, not to go for gold, but to get them a scholarship to an American university.

It is early but they have already been for a 45-minute run into the hills and soon they are putting their damp tracksuits back on before jogging across the road, and ducking through a gap in the fence to get to the track - a bumpy, grassy field, marked out with chalk.

Then they begin their training session sprinting diagonally across the track, then jogging slowly round the edge, then sprinting across once more - again and again.

After 30 minutes they begin their stretches and tell me of their plans.

Nowami wants to be a nurse, Beatrice, a molecular scientist and Susteen a TV news anchor, but they know that what the Americans want them for is their speed.

Provided they train hard enough as well as passing their exams and satisfying the strict criteria for visas, they can go to the US.

The best runners here have very slim, long lower legs, so slim they almost look fragile.

Scientists have found that this does bring an advantage, as does living and training at such a high altitude, but the athletes are not keen on the suggestion that it is down to genetics.

They do not like the implication that this means they do not have to try. And they certainly do try.

In fact one athlete told me that the motivation to run your way out of poverty is so strong, that if Kenya were to become a rich country he believed it would stop producing such fast runners.

I go to another village where three primary schools are holding a competition. They are determined to include all children in the sports day, not just the best, but coaches and even an Olympic Gold medallist - Asbel Kiprop - have come to see who shows promise.

The children are told to line-up by age.

They are very excited. Every single one wants to run.

The seven-year olds go first, flinging off their shoes and then sprinting 70m across the bumpy field.

I do a bit of running myself, or maybe I should call it jogging, so I had come in my running shoes, thinking I might join in.

I was planning to wait to run with the older children, but that was until I saw how fast the seven-year olds went.

So I asked the eight-year olds if I could be in their race. Their enthusiasm results in several false starts, with me already lagging behind because I was a bit slow on the off.

Then I started sprinting as fast as I could, leaping two fresh cowpats and desperately trying to breathe enough of the thin air to keep going.

Within 10 seconds all but one of the 30 children were way in front of me. There was just one smaller one who I thought I might be able to catch up with.

They had warned me the competitive spirit was strong here and it must have rubbed off on me because I have to confess that I do not usually try to beat eight-year olds at games, but found myself using every bit of energy I could find.

I caught up and crossed the line possibly just in front of him, although to be honest I think it was probably a draw.

I can try blaming the fact that I was carrying a microphone and I am not used to the altitude. Alternatively I can just acknowledge they were really fast.

They enjoyed beating me, and did not seem surprised they had done so.

As I left the coach offered me a few words of consolation. "In this field of children today," he said, "I guarantee you there are gold medallists of the future."

No wonder I could not beat them.

By Claudia Hammond

BBC, Iten

BBC © 2012

Idiom of the week

Which is the best musical instrument?

The Big Question: There are 14 or 15 musical instruments in an orchestra, three or four in most rock bands. But which is the king? Richard Morrison launches our debate...

I once asked Anne-Sophie Mutter, the great violinist, what had made her choose the fiddle. “I didn’t,” she replied. “It chose me.” That’s how it is with prodigies. At the age of three or thereabouts they connect with an instrument in a way that seems beyond intuition. It’s as if everything about them—temperament, intelligence, physique, upbringing—catapults them towards mastering a musical tool in astonishingly little time. Typically, an infant prodigy on the violin or piano will go from zero to concerto in two years.

But they are the one-in-a-million kids. What about the rest of us? What draws us to play, or to love hearing, some instruments above all others? Why are 40m children in China learning the piano, a European instrument that has scant connection with Eastern culture? What accounts for the guitar’s dominance in Western popular music? Why do composers express their most melancholy thoughts on cellos?

These questions go beyond music. They touch on the essence of identity, aspiration, expression, history and politics, as well as what Jung called our collective unconscious. And science plays a huge part as well. When we describe a quiet flute as “soothing”, we are really commenting on the sine-wave purity of its vibrations. Similarly, the “rousing” or “joyous” timbre of a trumpet attests to its jagged array of harmonics.

In any case, does that necessarily convey joy, or a call to action? How you interpret any sound depends on its context and your knowledge. In Mahler’s symphonies and song cycles a trumpet fanfare often signifies death, grief or tragedy—but only if you know that for Mahler (whose miserable childhood was spent near an army barracks) a bugle-call was a reminder of the eight siblings who died in his youth.

What complicates matters further is the sheer variety of instruments. We began creating them ridiculously early (the earliest extant flute is 67,000 years old) and have never stopped. Recently I’ve been to concerts featuring virtuoso on both a six-stringed electric violin and the hang, a Swiss-invented steel drum of beguiling sensuality. Neither existed 20 years ago.

Take a look, if you have the strength, at the 12,000 entries in the “New Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments” (1985). Then consider that the next edition will have 20,000. The standard symphony orchestra, parading a mere 14 or 15 varieties of instrument, begins to look as limited as a supermarket cheese counter.

Most of the 20,000 instruments are local riffs on universal archetypes. Almost every culture has its version of the flute, drum, guitar/lute and fiddle family. There are wide variations in the way they are tuned, constructed or played. But the biggest differences come in the social functions they fulfil. Many instruments, particularly in Eastern cultures, have religious roles. Others are associated with an elite craft, passed down from master to pupil like a trade secret.

Sometimes the same instrument can fulfil totally different roles in different cultures or ages. In Western art music, the violin is the instrument that the greatest composers—Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, Tchaikovsky—often entrusted with their deepest thoughts. But in the folk cultures of America, Ireland and eastern Europe, it is a wild invitation to a knees-up.

Similarly, in many countries—particularly under totalitarian regimes—the oom-pah of massed brass instruments is a sinister sound, linked to military might and political oppression. But in Britain the cornets and euphoniums of brass bands are aural badges of pride for the embattled working class: the instruments on which miners and mill-workers let off steam, almost literally, after their 14-hour shifts. Though the mines and mills have gone, those associations linger.

What’s fascinating today is how the popularity of certain instruments mirrors the cultural differences between West and East. In the United States and western Europe, guitar is the instrument of choice for most youngsters, and there are obvious reasons for that. Its most famous exponents enjoy iconic status as entertainers, balladeers, individualists, rebels or folk-heroes as well as (or, in some cases, instead of) being good musicians. The guitar is a good traveller across musical styles in a way that, for instance, the oboe isn’t. It’s an easy instrument to learn—at least, if you need just three chords to satisfy your musical urges. And you can buy a reasonable guitar for one-tenth of the cost of a reasonable violin.

Yet in the Far East the violin and piano are the instruments most likely to be thrust at a toddler by any self-respecting tiger-mother. Why? Precisely because neither can be truly mastered without putting in hours of disciplined, repetitive practice each day for years—a discipline that seems beyond the channel-flicking attention-spans of most Western children now. But isn’t there also something very symbolic about this? By striving to become the world’s foremost exponents of Western instruments, aren’t these Asians saying something significant about their general ambitions for themselves and their nations?

Ultimately, nominating the best musical instrument is like nominating the best position for sex. There’s no “best”. It all depends on who’s performing and how inspired they are. I was once moved to tears by a tuba—played by an autistic teenager who communicated more through this tangle of silver piping than he could ever achieve with words. In his poem “Snow”, Louis MacNeice mused that the world is “crazier and more of it than we think, incorrigibly plural”. Nothing demonstrates that better than the array of 20,000 instruments that humanity has found reasons to invent. We should cherish them all. Yes, even a world without bagpipes would be a poorer place.

From INTELLIGENT LIFE magazine, May/June 2012

Another idiom explained:

Being an optimist 'may protect against heart problems'

Being cheerful may protect against heart problems, say US experts. Happy, optimistic people have a lower risk of heart disease and stroke, a Harvard School of Public Health review of more than 200 studies - reported in Psychological Bulletin - suggests. While such people may be generally healthier, scientists think a sense of well-being may lower risk factors such as high blood pressure and cholesterol. Stress and depression have already been linked to heart disease. The researcher from the Harvard School of Public Health trawled medical trial databases to find studies that had recorded psychological well-being and cardiovascular health. This revealed that factors such as optimism, life satisfaction, and happiness appeared to be linked associated with a reduced risk of heart and circulatory diseases, regardless of a person's age, socio-economic status, smoking status or body weight. Disease risk was 50% lower among the most optimistic individuals. 

'Not proof'

Dr Julia Boehm and colleagues stress that their work only suggests a link and is not proof that well-being buffers against heart disease. And not only is it difficult to objectively measure well-being, other heart risk factors like cholesterol and diabetes are more important when it comes to reducing disease. The people in the study who were more optimistic also engaged in healthier behaviours such as getting more exercise and eating a balanced diet, which will have some influence. But even when they controlled for these factors and others, like sleep quality, the link between optimism and better heart health remained. Although they looked at 200 studies, the researchers say this number is still not enough to draw firm conclusions and recommend more research. Much of the past work on mood and heart disease has looked at stress and anxiety rather than happiness. Maureen Talbot, senior cardiac nurse at the British Heart Foundation, said: "The association between heart disease and mental health is very complex and still not fully understood. "Although this study didn't look at the effects of stress, it does confirm what we already know which is psychological well-being is an important part of a healthy lifestyle, just like staying active and eating healthily. "It also highlights the need for healthcare professionals to provide a holistic approach to care, taking into account the state of someone's mental health and monitoring its effect on their physical health."
BBC © 2012

Idioms explained

Helping you to learn idioms:

St. Nicholas (Santa Claus)

For British kids, 6 December may mean little more than popping another chocolate out of the advent calendar on the countdown to the Big event.

But for many children across Europe, this date signals St Nicholas Day - an event as exciting as Christmas Day itself.

In Holland, for instance, children leave clogs and shoes out on 5 December to be filled with presents by St Nicholas - or Sinterklaas - overnight. In the morning, Sinterklaas visits a city or town in the Netherlands, leading a procession on a white horse.

In other countries including Austria, Germany, Belgium, Croatia and regions of France, their versions of the St Nicholas figure come to deliver treats to the good little boys and girls too, with toys, chocolates, cookies, oranges, nuts and marzipan among the goodies brought.

Even in the UK there are special church-organised St Nicholas events, including a parade in Canterbury, a celebration at St Nicholas Cathedral in Newcastle and a festival at the Holy Trinity in London's Sloane Square.

Yet despite the popularity of this festival so close to our own shores, and while many of us probably have a vague recollection of our own Father Christmas being somehow related to St Nick, the odds are we know very little about the legend of St Nicholas.

So who is this festive saint and why is he celebrated on 6 December?

While much of his story is shrouded in mystery, what is known is that Nicholas was born around 260AD in Asia Minor, now Turkey. He became bishop of Myra, in the present day Antalya Province, and is believed to have been persecuted and imprisoned for his faith by the Roman emperor Diocletian.

He died in 343, probably on 6th December, before in 1087 his bones were stolen by Italian merchants and taken to Bari, on the heel of Italy.

Along the way a series of legends have sprung up about his beneficence: how, the son of wealthy parents, he gave much of his inheritance away, stilled a storm to rescue a ship of stricken sailors and saved three poor sisters from prostitution by secretly dropping bags of gold down their chimneys into a stocking (sound familiar?).

Over time Nicholas has become the patron saint of everything from children to the unjustly imprisoned, sailors, scholars, brides, perfumers and even people being mugged. During the middle ages the legend of his golden gift to the three sisters turned into the anonymous giving of food to the poor.

As for how the old bishop turned into the fat, jolly, rosy-cheeked Father Christmas, or Santa Claus, that we know and love today? Most important to this transformation was probably the arrival of the Dutch in America, taking their 6th December customs with them.

Their Sinterklaas became Santa in local dialect, and soon imagery abounded of a kindly saint hanging toys in stockings by fireplaces. In 1823 the poem by Clement C. Moore - now known as The Night Before Christmas but then called A Visit from St Nicholas - put into bold relief the jelly-bellied, dimpled, bearded chap he is now.

Shortly afterwards the New York caricaturist Thomas Nast penned a series of cartoons for Harper's Weekly featuring a fat Santa in a red cloak, before in the 1930s ads for Coca Cola really cemented the image by depicting him in his scarlet coat trimmed with fur.

For Canon Jim Rosenthal, founder of the St Nicholas Society, it's high time St Nick was remembered by everyone who celebrates Christmas: "I always think it's sad that people are ignorant of the origins of our customs. Santa Claus is fine, but St Nicholas is so much better. Like us, he is real."

Travel writer Jeremy Seal, author of Nicholas: The Epic Journey from Saint to Santa Claus, agrees his story deserves better recognition: "Nicholas seems to be a sensible person that made his name from giving material, practical assistance.

"That aspect has resonated through the ages because material assistance is something we all need and can relate to... You can select any number of stories about him, but most have in common his bringing help to people."

He adds: "That is the lesson we can take out of this. Gifts just for the sake of giving to our loved ones who have enough may not reflect what St. Nicholas was all about".
Did you know..?

• A painting of St Nicholas, The Charity of St Nicholas of Bari, by Italian Renaissance artist Girolamo Macchietti hangs in the National Gallery in London - showing him poised to deliver the bags of gold to the three poor sisters

• Manchester University scientists found St Nicholas to have a broken nose and a white beard after recreating his face using X-rays of his crypt

• Among the legends is that he resurrected three boys killed by a psychotic butcher, after they had been chopped up, salted in a barrel and prepared to be sold as ham during a period of famine

• The tangerines traditionally left as gifts in the stockings of children who have been good allude to St Nicholas's emblem – three balls of gold

• Some experts claim that the body of St Nick was actually moved to County Kilkenny in Ireland in the 12th century, and buried in the now ruined Church of St Nicholas, Jerpoint

• Our Father Christmas is born of the St Nicholas legend - but also crossed with that of the Norse god Odin, who rode through the winter world in a blue cloak and long white beard bringing gifts or punishments as appropriate.

(From: http://uk.lifestyle.yahoo.com/st--nicholas-day.html)

Reindeer pant to stay cool in fur coats

By Ella Davies Reporter, BBC Nature

Reindeer pant to lower their brain temperatures when running in fur coats, according to research.

Scientists in Norway trained reindeer to run on treadmills to study how they stayed cool under physical exertion.

The animals are heavily insulated against the cold of Arctic winters, leaving few methods of losing heat.

Results showed the reindeer inhaling large quantities of cold air and transferring heat by panting.

Professors Arnoldus Blix and Lars Folkow from the University of Tromso worked with Lars Walloe from the University of Oslo on the study.

Their findings are published in the Journal of Experimental Biology.

"Reindeer are the best animals to work with; once they trust the trainer they will do anything for you," Prof Blix told the journal.

After training the reindeer to run on the treadmill, the scientists measured their physiological responses to exercise in a cold environments.

In the early stages of running, the reindeer's breathing changed from seven breaths per minute to 250.

Blood flow to the face also increased and as the inhaled air passed over blood vessels inside the reindeer's noses, the temperature of this blood dropped.

This cooler blood then circulated around the body to cool the hard-working, heat-stressed muscles.

Subsequent panting then exposed the reindeer's large wet tongues to the cool air.

"They do not have sweat glands like us humans which would ruin the insulative properties of their fur, but make use of the same principle - heat dissipation through evaporation of water - when they pant," Prof Folklow told BBC Nature.

Finally, when their brain temperature reached a critically hot 39C, the reindeer switched to another strategy.

The team found that through "selective brain cooling", the reindeer diverted the cooled blood from their noses into their heads, where it reduced the temperature of blood circulating to the brain, protecting it from overheating.

"This high-arctic [animal] which tolerates cold very well, also has an immense capacity to tolerate heat stress due to the high efficiency of the panting mechanism and the habit of resorting to brain cooling when the heat load gets really high," said Prof Folklow.

Previous studies have highlighted this ability in sheep, leading scientists to question whether all species of hoofed mammal can selectively cool their brains.

BBC © 2011

Tips to prevent office back pain

Do you work in an office, here's some advice to avoid back pain:

Back pain is nothing short of a modern day plague; around seven out of 10 of us can expect to suffer from it at some time.
Back pain is a major cause of days off work, and is the second most common cause of long-term sickness in the UK, after stress.
Much of the back pain is not caused by lifting heavy objects or shifting around chests of drawers, but is down to sitting at an office desk for lengthy periods of time.
Many office workers don't even take a break from their desk: A UK wide survey by the Chartered Society of Physiotherapists found one third choose to work through lunch breaks.
Yet sitting is one of the worst things you can do to your lower back, and that's before slouching and bad posture are factored in. Just working in the same position without a break increases the risk of developing back (and neck) pain.
To prevent developing back pain while sitting in front of a computer, try the following tips from the British Chiropractor Association:

• Relax when sitting into your chair. Make sure you have your bottom against the seat back with your shoulder blades touching the back rest of the chair
• Make sure your feet touch the floor, or use a foot rest
• There should be space between the front of your seat and back of your calves
• Your hips should be higher than your knees (tilt the seat)
• Arms should be flat and your elbows level with the desk or table you are using. Use a seat with arm rests
• Take regular breaks. Never sit at the computer for more than 40 minutes; less if possible
• When you take a break, walk around and stretch a little; do something completely different
• Remove any obstacles from under your desk to ensure you have enough leg room

In addition, position the monitor so that it is straight in front of you, at about arms length, and make sure it is directly in front of you, not at an angle.
The top of the screen should be at eye level, and you should not need to look up, twist your body or lean forward to use it.

(From: http://uk.health.lifestyle.yahoo.net/Tips-to-prevent-office-back-pain.htm)

An interesting news story

An interesting news story - click on the highlighted words to see their meaning)

Killer Sharks Invade Golf Course in Oz
(Oz = Australia)

Members of a golf club in Australia have something more to worry about than just their swing - playing on what's thought to be the world's first shark-infested course.

Water hazards are a challenge for anyone who plays golf, but on the 14th tee at the Carbrook Golf Club in Brisbane there is another reason to be concerned.
Half a dozen man-eating bullsharks live in the lake in the centre of the course where their fins poking through the water have become a regular sight.
The sharks got onto the Queensland golf course when it flooded some years ago after a river broke its banks.
They became stranded when the water receded, but now they are thriving and even breeding.
"You can't believe how close you are...just six feet away," club general manager Scott Wagstaff said.
"There's no drama, it's become a positive thing for the golf course. They are amazing. I've become a shark lover since working here."
Although the lake is well stocked with fish, Mr Wagstaff sometimes throws in meat to encourage the sharks to come near the surface.
"I'm sure they are aggressive when you are in the water but when you are out here feeding them they are beautiful to watch," he told Sky News.
The sharks have become renowned in the region and there is even a monthly tournament called the "Shark Lake Challenge".
Golfers often pause during games for a few minutes to see if they can spot the sharks before they head off to the next tee.
The sharks, which are between 8 and 10ft long, have proved quite a hit at corporate events and their fins have even been spotted during wedding ceremonies held on the course.
Local children once jumped in the lake to retrieve lost golf balls for extra pocket money - but it is something they have not done for a while.
(From: http://uk.news.yahoo.com/killer-sharks-invade-golf-course-oz-012405533.html - you can see a video of the story, and the sharks, here)
Now you can post in the comments below and say what other hazards could be added to the golf course - maybe lions?