Well below the 44 seconds needed to confirm their Australian Flame selection, today’s time is a massive improvement for Sally Pearson, Charlotte Van Veenendaal, Laura Whaler and Melissa Breen after disappointingly clocking 44.02 at the Sydney Track Classic in March.

“You have no idea how excited we are,” Pearson said.

“It took so long for the time to appear on the big screen but once we knew were just jumping, screaming and hugging on the back straight.

“Today was the last chance we had to clock the qualifier and we did it – bring on Daegu.”

Highlighting Athletics Australia’s continued work in the development of a strong relay program; the addition of the women’s 4x100m team this afternoon ensures a green and gold charge in all four relays at the IAAF world championships for the first time since Paris in 2003.

“Australia’s targeted relay strategy is starting to pay dividends with the successful qualification of all four relay teams,” Eric Hollingsworth, Athletics Australia High Performance Manager, said.

“It’s good to see the hard work of so many paying off and I congratulate the girls on an impressive run this afternoon.”

Japan A were the eventual winners of the race in a national record time of 43.39, with Japan B third in 44.62.

In other track highlights:

-          Australian champion Brendan Cole won the men’s 400m hurdles in a season best time of 49.60. His time today is a mere 0.20 seconds off the IAAF world championships qualifier.

-          Lauren Boden, who trains with Cole under the guidance of Matt Beckenham, made it two wins from two starts in Japan in the past week after clocking 55.86 to take out the women’s 400m hurdles.

-          Edged out by American Alexandria Anderson (1^st, 11.28), Melissa Breen returned to the track after her relay run for third (11.56, w: -0.4) in the women’s 100m.

-          James Kaan, who won his first Australian 800m title three weeks ago, placed second (1:47.25) in the men’s 800m, with compatriot James Gurr fourth in 1:48.54.

-          Aaron Rouge-Serret, the national 100m and 200m champion, clocked 10.42 (w: -0.8) for second behind Stawell Gift starter and 2003 world champion Kim Collins (10.40) in the men’s 100m.

-          Crossing the line in 39.53, the Australian men’s 4x100m relay team placed fifth behind the home team Japan, who took victory in a time of 38.78.

-          Matt Davies (20.93, w: -0.1), Sean Wroe (21.55) and Kevin Moore (21.77) placed 4^th, 6^th and 7^th respectively in the men’s 200m.

Beginning his 2011 international campaign in Japan, world and world indoor championships bronze medallist Mitchell Watt soared 8.07m (w: +0.9) for second in the men’s long jump.

Edged out for the win by Tyrone Smith (BER, 8.09m, w: +1.2) in the last round, Watt was joined on the runway by Robbie Crowther who leapt and impressive 8.03m (w: +1.2), two centimetres shy of his personal best, for 4^th.

In other field highlights:

-          Kerrie Perkins (6.34m, w: +2.2), Jessica Penney (6.15m, w: +1.9) and Linda Allen (6.12m, w: +1.2) were 5^th, 6^th and 7^th respectively in the women’s long jump. The event was won bySaeko Okayama (JPN, 6.61m).

-          Australian based pole vaulter Sergey Kucheryanu cleared 5.45m for second behind Japan’sDaichi Sawano (5.60m) in the men’s pole vault.

-          Local hero Yukifumi Murakami, the 2009 world championships bronze medallist and 2009 Asian champion, took victory the men’s javelin throw with a 82.90m best mark.

The Golden Grand Prix concludes a three-meet series in Japan, with Australia’s best now set to 

by Lisa Weightman

What an awesome weekend for Team Telford!!  A course record and pb for Shelley (Michael Shelley), pbs for Andrea (Andrea Ilakovac), Louisa (Louisa Lobigs) and Michelle (Michelle French) in the 10k, a debut 2hr39m marathon and gold medallist in the Oceania Championships for Sarah (Sarah McRae) and a 69min Half for me, including running the fastest 10k time of my career in both the first and second 10k of the race!  All I find myself saying these last few months is ‘knock on wood.’.  Everything is going so well, ‘knock on wood’.  Running and life in general is so much fun and I just don’t want the excitement to end. 

Since Nagano the focus switched from riding the bike during recovery (I hope no one saw me walking it up the hills!) to building on what I have achieved in preparation for the Commonwealth Games.  Despite the strong focus on achieving my very best at the Games, my passion is firmly fixed on enjoying the journey with Lac. 

Despite the gloomy Melbourne weather in the lead up to Gold Coast we completed some amazing sessions on the Melbourne Uni Track and out on the Yarra trails.  Sessions which have given me great confidence in my ability and have been fun (once they were over of course!)!

Slogging it out on a long run in the rain and mud sounds horrendous for some, but underneath all that we can laugh about our crazy antics!  The fun is all about the people you have around you, making each run more than just a training session.  Out on the track with Hamish (Hamish Beaumont) one of the stars from AV’s Behind The Tent cheering Lac and I on, lap after lap of a Tuesday.  Warming up before Saturday morning sessions with Buster (Craig Motram), who provides inspiration after having such a long lay off with injury.  Laughing our way through the warm ups and cool downs with Kyles (Kylie Dick), Al (Allan Faila) and Dicki (Lisa Dick), not to forget the new addition Jules (Al and Dicki’s dog).  These are the moments in life that we remember. 

Lac and I are fortunate in that the recent success of the McWeightmans has brought about greater opportunities to make new friends and share new experiences.  Our first race since the trip to Nagano produced not one, but two course records in the Mallee12 in Mildura.  Lac broke Mona’s record for the 12km course by 7secs and surprised everyone in Mildura (my not so secret weapon)!  They didn’t realise that every run he beats me home, which means I am always on dishes that night!! 

Our trip to the Mallee was more about eating than running I think, brunches at Sumo Salad Café (thanks Mark!), freshly baked scones at Wamberra Station and an opportunity to share running experiences, catch up with family and enjoy a break from our fast paced lifestyle!  We are now the proud owners of his and hers Mallee Root trophies to ‘knock on’ and Tracey (Tracey Lee) your fruit cakes didn’t last long!!

After struggling with getting up before 6am on a few occasions over the last few weeks due to cold temperatures and just plain old tiredness, the effort has been well worth it after the successful weekend on the Gold Coast.  To then find out the time was fastest on Australian soil by a chick and currently 17^th fastest in the world just puts the icing on the cake.  If only I’d have ran that one second faster for a 68:59! 

Back to work this week (IBM), back to training at 6am and 6pm each day, Monday massages with therapist Brigitte Egan and soon back with Danielle (Danielle Stefano, VIS Sports Physiologist) in the VIS heat chamber, all in aid of a performance to be proud of at the games this year, with a lot of fun along the way I hope!  The journey continues.  Knock on wood…

[Congratulations to Cassie Fien and Jessica Trengrove for their outstanding performances at the Gold Coast.  Well deserved pbs for such wonderful girls.]

After missing the entire XC season, im back into it, ripping out some kms, pumping some weights, lining up a few local races trying to get into some race fitness.

Cameron is sponsored by The Runner's Tribe. Made possible by    

 

After missing the entire XC season, im back into it, ripping out some kms, pumping some weights, lining up a few local races trying to get into some race fitness. Training has been going pretty well, doing some solid session's including some tough sand hill reps in boudi national park. Winter training was pretty light , trying to get a toe injury better and stay injury free, during this time I did a fair bit of cross training including swimming, gym and underwater rock running which is a real lungbuster. I've also become a lot more serious in stretching and icing and getting on top of little injuries before it becomes a major problem. Most of my sessions are run in Bouddi National Park including beach running with 1 or 2 track sessions, a fair bit of swimming with a couple of gym session's a week and some recovery icing session's. One of the greatest things about living/training on the Central Coast is the national parks and the beaches, Bouddi has magnificent views, reefs, shipwrecks, pounding surf, beaches, scenic coastal tracks, its just a wonderful environment to run in, its spiritually uplifting, so when you're running along one of the many beaches in Bouddi and you�re hit with a spray from the surf you can just breathe the salt air and you can feel your chest expand and you can feel the muscles in your leg tingle, its just makes you want to run. A usual daily discussion of Steve Prefontaines "Without Limits" passes the time. I'm stoked on running after any sort of session in Bouddi. Most hard session's are usually done in the arvo with easier ones in the morning so recovery is maximised. After any sort of hard sess it's recovery time which usually consists of a dive in the ocean, some gentle kicking in the water, a good surf, and laying on the beach with some beverages.



However the price to pay for Bouddi's breathtaking beauty is the difficulty of the terrain, lets just say I'd take 'The hill' at Nowra any day over a run in bouddi, it has some hectic hills, best summed up by the infamous 'Goat Track', forged on a steep mountainous climb that could have only originated in hell itself. When your toes bleed, that's running, when everything bleeds, that bouddi national park! Bouddi is also home of Trevor the bush turkey, a likeable young bush turkey, who we found injured one morning and nursed back to health, he usually joins for a couple kms before dropping us. Another great thing is having a very supportive coach- Kevin Wills who has come up with some unique principles of training to follow which keeps it interesting. Also having a great group of central coast runner�s notably the BMDB- Bringing middle distance back guys including Geoff Arnold, Cale Bowd, david Mainwaring, Tim Page, Dom an Ed Perry and Ben Guest.

Hopefully in the next few months I'll have a lot more time to train and get serious, with distraction�s such as the HSC etc out the way. Training now is starting to get more race specific including more fast track workout's and shorter, faster runs in general. I'm hoping to race well in the NSW 3km champs and run a fast time there and race consistently well throughout the season, hopefully clocking some world junior qualifier's and focus on that as a main goal in the long term.

Cam

 

'Most hard session's are usually done in the arvo with easier ones in the morning so recovery is maximised'
Cameron Page

© 2008 The Runner's Tribe, all rights reserved.

Steeplechase running in Kenya is a matter of honour and pride, Kenya have dominated the event for decades. Right now, the man leading Kenya's charge and the new Olympic 3000m Steeplechase champion, is the one and only Brimin Kiprop Kipruto. Kipruto hails from Korkitony, a village in the Rift Valley, and trains with the Global Sports group in Kaptagat near Eldoret. Kipruto has an impressive range of talent finishing 11th at the 2006 World Cross-Country Championships (short course), and he has also run a 3:35.23 for 1500m.

RunnersTribe: Brimin, thanks for your time. Congratulations on your Steeplechase gold medal. How did you find the race? Were you surprised to see the Frenchman Mahiedine Mekhissi-benadbbad beat your fellow countryman (Richard Kipkemboi Mateelong) home and get so close to beating you?

Brimin Kiprop Kipruto : The race was very fine, we tried to run as a team. In the final lap I felt very good and confident and after the last water barrier, I knew that with my kick I was able to win.

It is only good there is more competition coming in the steeple, so we welcome Mahiedine. Of course I am looking forward to having some tough battles with him in the future.

 2006 World Athletics Final

RT: The Steeplechase is an event that is dominated by the Kenyans, even the Ethiopians rarely challenge the Kenyan stranglehold over the event. Is there a reason in particular as to why you think this is the case?

BKK: The reason I think is tradition. The steeple has a long standing tradition and all these young athletes in Kenya are looking up to the athletes who won big successes in the steeple and they want to step in their footsteps. So more talent is going to the steeple as compared to Ethiopia.

RT: Your finishing kick was very strong, is this speed something that comes naturally to you? Or do you do a lot of speed work in training?

BKK: Both, I have natural speed, but of course I have to train for it like everybody else. I have a very good pb in the 1500m and at the World Junior Championships in 2004 I won the bronze medal in 1500m.

RT: So you plan to race in the World Athletics final?

BKK: For sure, Brussels and World Athletics Final.

Like yourselves, the team at Runner's Tribe can't get enough news on running - past, present and future.

We are also passionate about improving the profile of athletics to help aspiring elite athletes realise their dreams.

The Runner's Tribe team is very excited to announce a partnership that will help us achieve these goals. New Balance Athletic Company have agreed to provide sponsorship that will enable us to increase our news coverage, our special features and to maintain our passionate on-line community.

Runner's Tribe is confident that this partnership will help us greatly in our quest to become the world's leading internet provider of extensive and entertaining athletics media.

New Balance is one of the true running heritage brands. Back in the 1970's New Balance was the only brand to support a struggling 2.22 marathoner, Dick Beardsley. It was years later in 1982 that Beardsley was immortalised in the classic "duel in the sun" Boston Marathon, where both runners clocked sub 2.09.

In Australia New Balance has supported runners through Athletics Australia & Triathlon Australia sponsorships. However, New Balance's proudest achievement is the 7-year long support of local runners through the NB Development Squad, with athletes such as Collis Birmingham, Marty Dent & Lisa Weightman, to name just a few.

So we would like to welcome New Balance as supporters of The Runner's Tribe and the development of running in Australia.
 

'The mile has all the elements of drama'
Sir Roger Bannister

 In December, 1952, a young man stood on the starting line for a mile race at Melbourne ’s Olympic Park, unsure whether the rumbling in his stomach was pre-race nerves or emanated from the couple of meat pies and chocolate sundae he had wolfed down less than two hours earlier.

The quest for the four-minute mile made John Landy a world star, famous from Afghanistan to Zanzibar . Few other Australian sportsmen or women - certainly no other track and field athlete, had achieved such fame. Starting with Edwin Flack at the first modern Olympic Games in Athens in 1896, there had been a handful of champions. Flack, among others, achieved fleeting fame. But no Australian athlete would have established him or herself on a wider, international public in the manner Landy did from December 1952 through to the Melbourne Olympic Games in 1956. People all over the world knew who Landy was, followed his exploits, made judgements on his athletic strengths and shortcomings. When he struggled with an achilles tendon injury shortly before the Melbourne Games, an overwhelming flood of letters advising treatments and cures poured into his family’s letterbox from all around Australia and overseas.