After watching Ethiopian and Kenyan long-distance runners dominate athletics since the early 1990s, I was expecting a nation of runners when I arrived in Ethiopia.

Yet after six weeks travelling thousands of miles across this huge country, I have seen fewer runners than you would see on Hampstead Heath on a single Sunday.

Running, it seems, is not an every -day activity in Ethiopia like I imagined. However, after taking the two-day bus journey from Harar to Bekoji, the athletic Ethiopia of my imagination turned into reality.

Despite its small population of approximately 16,000, Bekoji is at the centre of Ethiopian distance running success.

Bekoji has produced Olympic medalists in every Games since 1992, when Derartu Tulu became the first black African female gold medallist. Her success proved an inspiration for the town, with greats such as Tirunesh Dibaba and Kenenisa Bekele following in her footsteps.

Situated at 2,700m above sea level, 170 miles south of Addis Ababa, Bekoji's athletes have the advantage of altitude. But much of Ethiopia is at a similar altitude, so the town's success goes beyond the basics of geography.

One man is at the heart of it. Former PE teacher Sentayehu Eshetu, known simply as Coach, has trained every Olympian from Bekoji at youth level. He currently trains up to 250 young athletes each day.

When I meet Coach at the Wabe Hotel he says the runners he trains "all do it to be professional, not for a hobby." With such international success stemming from their town, it is clear to see why local children get inspired to run.

Perhaps the national dish of Ethiopia, injera - a light, spongy flatbread made from teff flour - is the secret of the runner's success, I suggest. "No, not injera. Injera is only allowed once a week. Their diet is mostly spaghetti, as they need lots of carbohydrates," he laughs.

He invites us to watch - or even join in - a training session the following day.

At 5.45am I join a group of local runners on their way to training. With morning mist hovering over the rolling hills and white-robed horsemen, donkeys and horse-drawn carts the only traffic on the new Chinese-built road, it was rural Ethiopia at its mystical finest.

We arrive 10 minutes early. No one is ever late for Coach, the runners assure me. I join the hundred or so runners warming up, running the neat natural tracks created in the forest from rows of eucalyptus trees.

The mass of runners form into neat lines of 10 when Coach arrives. I decide to latch on to the back of the nearest group, as the lines of runners peel off in silent unison into the forest.

Each group run effortlessly, avoiding other lines of runners which appear as occasional flashes of blink-and-you'll-miss-it colour, jumping over fallen trees and weaving through low branches.

The athletes run for around an hour, increasing the pace every 10 minutes. It is survival of the fittest style training, where the weakest drop off and run at their own pace. After the hour, each group carry out different training drills, depending on their programme.

For one person to oversee the training of short, middle and long-distance runners is a big challenge and the athletes' success is a testimony to the ability of Eshetu.

The following day we watch some of the best young athletes in the Oromia region train. One of the several regional government funded training centres is now in Bekoji, where late-teenage athletes live, train and eat together. The best will be signed up to professional clubs in Addis Ababa, where the finest may then become international runners.

The warm-up and core exercise drills are particularly impressive, carried out like a military march, such as waving arms side to side in unison, knees up and kicks out. The sound of footsteps all hitting the ground at the same time is an impressive display of discipline and routine.

The training takes place in a large field where horses freely roam. Long-jump athletes dig a temporary pit in the field. Coach instructs a group of athletes to pace out a 350m distance marker for an interval training session - where the intense speed and competitiveness of the intervals is awesome to watch.

After the training Coach gives us a brief tour of the athletes' accommodation. Ten beds are in each bedroom, where pictures of Jesus and Dibaba hang on the walls in equal stature.

In Bekoji it became clear that, unlike Britain, Ethiopia is not a nation of fun runners who pound countless miles on the pavement for leisure - arguably a privilege for people in wealthier countries.

Running in Ethiopia is calculated and trained, with becoming professional the goal. The alternative in Bekoji is likely to be long, hard hours of wheat or barley farming. Work in the fields certainly does not leave much energy for running.

It is a struggle for the young runners to dedicate time to their training in addition to family and work commitments.

But with so many greats to rise from this small, rural setting, it's easy to see why they take up running. "They run to be like Dibaba, Tulu and Kenenisa," Coach beams with a proud smile.

For more information on Bekoji visit: http://www.townofrunners.com/ and http://www.runningacrossborders.org/.

Town of Runners, a documentary on the runners from Bejoki, can be purchased from Amazon and Dogwoof.