Highlander Pipeline: Fill & Download for Free

Most of the top Kenyan runners come from a single tribe--the Kalenjin people (which make up a sizable minority of Kenya's population). Runners who win on the world stage in the modern era, regardless of their country of origin, are genetic freaks of nature. Still, there are certain physiological and cultural traits which happen more frequently among the Kalenjin which may explain why Kenya can successfully identify and groom to world's top male and female distance runners. Many of the arguments below are derived from The Sports Gene by David Epstein.PhysiologyThe Kalenjin people evolved in the hot lowlands and moved to the highland more recently, so their general physiology--longer and thinner limbs and shorter stature-- is optimized for dissipating heat. Heat dissipation is a big factor in success in distance running. Other important physiological factors are longer legs relative to the body height (for obvious reasons) and thinner ankles and calves (to decrease the energy required to swing the leg), which successful Kalenjin runners appear to have. Additionally, being born and raised at altitude (but not too high altitude--8000 feet or so) is thought to confer advantages in the blood's oxygen carrying capability which cannot be replicated simply by training at altitude as an adult.See also: Running economy : the forgotten factor in elite performance.Feedback loopThere are some factors which require an input of one or two successful runners (in this case, it was Kipchoge Keino* in the 1960s), which set of a cycle of excellence. Because running is seen internally as an important national sport, other factors arise which help maintain this.Young Kenyans see how their countrymen and women have successfully lifted their village out of poverty using the winnings from a few international races, and distance running becomes a mechanism for opportunity. In addition, college track teams in the US see the talent pipeline and recruit runners from Kenya. Thus, running also provides an opportunity to receive higher education abroad (e.g. Kenya’s running pipeline to US schools is strong - The Boston Globe)With running being a popular national sport, it is more probable that the rare unicorns get identified and trained from an early age. In most countries throughout the world, the children with the proper stature and athleticism get funneled into soccer. In addition, I get the feeling that in the west, people have no idea about the ideal physiology for a distance runner, so they keep funneling kids that are way too tall into track.With the steady pipieline of top talent, training groups have more members which can push each other to maximize their natural talentCultural factors outside the feedback loopPain tolerance is another huge component in successful distance running, and some people speculate that a painful coming-of-age ritual (crawling through stinging nettles; getting circumcised with a sharp stick) practiced by the Kalenjin (perhaps historically? The linked article isn't clear how prevalent it is in modern times) may have contributed to sexual selection of a population with exceptional pain tolerance. See: How One Kenyan Tribe Produces The World's Best Runners*Kipchoge Keino Set Standard for Kenyan Runners in 1968Addendum: running to/from school (often barefoot, as the legend goes) is probably not a huge factor, at least in modern times. Kenyan runners get asked this all the time in interviews, and many of them deny running to school and indicate that they wore shoes.

A pipeline with its intake in the Kakamas/Keimoes area would be possible. It would mean that Cape Town would gets its water from the same place Johannesburg does. The terrain between the Orange River and Cape Town is mostly very flat making it easier. It would need pumping stations though, gravity feed wont work as it is too flat.A really severe country wide drought would mean this too would not always work. As the situation is now in 2018 it would have been a great help. Smaller, similar pipelines like this already exists in Namibia to supply Swakopmund and its mines with water. Luderitz also has a pipeline.Unfortunately our current government is not focused on solving engineering problems. They are still fighting the same war they did 30 years ago while the country's infrastructure becomes more rundown by the day with raw sewerage running into rivers in many places, unreliable power supply and crumbling transport infrastructure.A large project such as this pipeline is not even on the horizon. If we ever do this there would be more pressure to complete the next phase of the Lesotho Highlands Water Scheme. Despite lots of talking it too is unlikely to happen.

According to Wikimapia, it is part of a disused RAF base: Former RNAS / RAF Evanton HMS Fieldfare This image shows some sort of ship that is perhaps laying cable? Google MapsThis is a better image of the ship: Google MapsThis page: The Invergordon Archive describes it as the "American Pier".And this page: Evanton says that there was an industrial estate which made long, flexible pipes, which were loaded onto ships using that pier (which perhaps explains the picture).Finally this page: Highland Resources, INC says The largest tenant is Technip, a French company which produces pipelines for the North Sea Oil Industry.Here's that ship again: