Dual Olympic medallist Jared Tallent (Vic) was the first Flame athlete across the line in the men’s 20km walk final this morning, as Valeriy Borchin (RUS) headed home with the gold medal in a fast paced affair at the 2011 IAAF world championships.

Competing across a two-kilometre loop in downtown Daegu (KOR), Tallent, who was joined on the start line by fellow Australian Adam Rutter (NSW, DNF), clocked 1:25:25 to finish 27th.

“I’m pretty disappointed to be honest, I usually should be able to hold that pace easily but it wasn’t there today,” Tallent said.

“My preparation hasn’t been ideal and I now have a week to turn it around for the 50 kilometre event later in the week. I had some pretty solid long sessions at home before coming here and am hoping to find what I was missing today for the next race.”

Heading out strongly, both Tallent and Rutter held strong in a chase pack as Italian Georgio Rubino (DQ) made an early break to cruise through 5 kilometres with the lead.  As the pace picked up through the middle stages the athletes dispersed, with Yusuke Suzuki (JPN, 8th, 1:21:39) heading to the front in 40:58 at the half way mark.

The defending world champion Borchin (first, 1:19:56) and former European champion Vladimir Kanaykin (second, 1:20:27) again lifted the tempo to take the lead spots in the closing stages to ensure a Russian one-two. Colombian Luis Fernando Lopez (1:20:38) won the bronze medal.

Tallent now shifts his attention to the men’s 50km walk final next Saturday, September 3, where he will be joined by 2007 world champion Nathan Deakes (Vic) and Commonwealth Games silver medallist Luke Adams (NSW)

“The Australian ranks for the 50km walk are good, Nathan and Luke are in great shape,” Tallent continued.

“I’ll be doing all I can to improve for then and they’ll be as ready as they can so we will do pretty well I think.”

Meanwhile at the main stadium, IAAF world championships debutante Kaila McKnight (Vic) took to the start line for the first round of the women’s 1500m. Clocking 4:08.74 in a very fast heat behind dual world champion Maryam Yusuf Jamal (BRN, 4:07.04)), the world championships debutante McKnight advanced on time to the semi-finals on Tuesday, August 30.

“I’m really pleased, there were a lot of good girls in my heat,” McKnight said.

“I’d watched the previous two heats and knew I needed to give a little bit of pace so I went to the lead when could to push for something quick.

“I know that Jamal can run really fast. They’re going to be in the final so if I want to make the final I have to get used to running against them.”

In field, Commonwealth champion Alana Boyd (WA) was unable to advance to the final of the women’s pole vault. Thirteenth overall, Boyd sailed over 4.25m, 4.40m and 4.50m before stumbling at 4.55m.Unluckily, she missed the final by one place on count back.

“It was nice to have some good jumps today but unfortunately it just wasn’t quite enough,” Boyd said.

“I know that with more work I can jump higher and be a better athlete for the Australian domestic season and the London Olympics.”

13^th IAAF world championships

Day 2

Sunday, August 28:

19:15 (20:15 AEST):

W Discus Throw (F): Dani Samuels (NSW)

ENDS

Time period spent in Europe?

5 weeks.  It will be 8-9 weeks by the end of my trip
 

-          Base whilst in Europe?

Teddington, London with Melbourne Track Club Athletes

-          What races did you target and how did they go?

My main target for this trip is the World Championships in Korea. I haven’t competed yet.

-          Most enjoyable experience?

Racing in the Monaco Diamond league. Off the track the amazing travel, shopping and food I am able to enjoy across Europe. I also love training in the sunshine at this time of year over here.

-          What was the lowest point?

No real low to report as yet. Everyday as an athlete has it’s challenges with ups and down but I take on as they come along.

-          Lessons learnt during this European experience?

My biggest lessons were learnt in my first year over here and I still follow them.

Treat your base like home, be comfortable, don’t do anything different to home and don’t ever trust a pacemaker.

Victorians Kaila McKnight and Jeff Riseley have today been added to the now 32-strong Australian Flame team bound for the 2011 IAAF world championships in Daegu (KOR) this August.

Bringing themselves to the attention of selectors thanks to exciting international performances in recent months, Riseley has been selected for the men’s two-lap event where he will face off with world record holder David Rudisha (KEN), while McKnight will line up in the 1500m alongside reigning world champion Maryam Yusuf Jamsal (BAH).

The national 1500m champion Riseley, who donned the green and gold at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the 2009 IAAF world championships, launched himself to third on the 800m Australian All-Time List with a blistering 1:45.02 run for victory at the OXY Meet in California (USA) in May. Currently training at home in Melbourne, he will head back to Europe next week where he will continue his push for further selection in the 1500m at the Monaco (MON) and Stockholm (SWE) instalments of the Samsung Diamond League.

McKnight made her international debut with a silver medal at the 2009 Summer Universiade before again representing Australia at the Commonwealth Games last year. Second placed in the 1500m at the Austrlaian Athletics Championships in April, McKnight headed to Daegu (KOR) where she ran 4:05.65, the fourth fastest time ever by and Australian.

Joining McKnight and Riseley on the Australian team headed to Daegu are athletes with a disability Madison De Rozario and Richard Colman.

Set to start in the invitational women’s wheelchair 800m and men’s wheelchair 400m respectively, 17-year-old De Rozario and T53 800m world champion Colman have already enjoyed high level international competition this year thanks to strong performances at the 2011 IPC Athletics World Championships in Christchurch (NZL) this past January.

In further team announcements by Athletics Australia today, five athletes havebeen added to the Australian track and field team for the Summer Universiade in Shenzhen (CHN) next month.

Dual Australian triple jump champion Linda Allen (triple jump) and XX Nicholas Toohey (1500m) earned individual selection, while world junior championships representative AlexanderBeck, world championships bronze medallist Tristan Thomas and West Australian Chris Troode were added to the men’s 4x400m relay team.

This brings the team total to 30, following the withdrawal of Brenton Rowe (1500m), Dale Stevenson(shot put), Bridey Delaney (1500m), Lara Tamsett (10000m) and Laura Cornford (javelin).

ENDS

Location: Leonora, West Australian outback.

Online entry: HERE

Australia's richest and most unique mile, the Leonora Golden Gift, is back once again in 2011, grander than before, with over 50,000 dollars up for grabs.

In 2010, Leonora’s main street was graced by the likes of Australian middle distance star Ryan Gregson who took the men’s title. Gregson collected $6000 dollars for his efforts plus a gold nugget valued at over 1000 dollars.  Just six weeks later Gregson went on to break the Australian 1500m record, clocking 3:31.06 in Monte Carlo on July 22. The event has a proud history of helping Australia’s best along the road to greater things, just one of the ways in which the Leonora mile has distinguished itself within the Australian running community.

In 2011, a new array of stars will entertain the eager and vocal crowd. So far confirmed starters include Jeremy Roff, who is the 7^th fastest Australian of all time over 1500m, Kaila McKnight, the Australian 1500m champion, and many more of Australia’s best. 

The men's field has a tradition of being as competitive as an Australian championships, with progression from heat to final not being considered a certainy for all but the very best. This year will be no exception. Furthermore, this years women's field is set to turn heads with the likes of Georgie Clarke, Bridey Delaney, Lisa Corrigan, and fresh from the United States, Zoe Buckman. Stay tuned for more announcements.

The prize money on offer for the elite men's and women's mile are as follow:

- First: $6000 plus gold nugget
- Second: $4000
- Third: $2000
- Fourth: $1500
- Fifth: $1250
- Sixth: $1000
- Seventh: $750
- Eighth: $500 

Stay tuned to Runner's Tribe for more updates and information.

If you are an elite 1500m runner and would like to be considered for entry, then please email us at

info@runnerstribe.com 

 

Confirmed starters so far:

 

Men’s field

 

Jeremy Roff

Brett Robinson

Paul Hoffman

James Nipperess

Jordan Williamsz

Nick Toohey

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

5000m - SEC Indoors 08

2009 nsw men's 5000m titles