The fastest place on Earth – in pictures

Five days a week, runners at Bekoji stadium are put through their paces
Photograph: Ben Quinton for the Guardian

'Within seconds they are half a track away, their strides massive, elegant, easy'
Photograph: Ben Quinton for the Guardian

Sentayehu Eshetu, aka Coach, has seen four of his runners win Olympic gold medals
Photograph: Ben Quinton for the Guardian

Runners might save for a year for secondhand trainers which will be sewn and resewn Photograph: Ben Quinton for the Guardian

Coach's stretching exercises include bending low and scatttering imaginary crops
Photograph: Ben Quinton for the Guardian

'He’s like a parent,' runner Alemi Tsegaye says of Coach. 'You can ask him anything'
Photograph: Ben Quinton for the Guardian

'Up, up, up, up,' Coach says, as the athletes lift their legs ever higher
Photograph: Ben Quinton for the Guardian

The silence in the valley is broken by the drum of feet beating the soil in perfect time
Photograph: Ben Quinton for the Guardian

Tejetu and Habersha, aunt and stepmother of Derartu Tulu, Coach's first champion
Photograph: Ben Quinton for the Guardian

Heading off across the red ochre soil, on the track at Bekoji stadium
Photograph: Ben Quinton for the Guardian

'I tell them what they should do,' Coach says. 'If they follow that, they run very well'
Photograph: Ben Quinton for the Guardian

Why do the runners want to be champions? 'For my country and my family,' they say
Photograph: Ben Quinton for the Guardian