Blog
Aries Merritt didn’t clear a hurdle in Shanghai. OK, maybe he did in practice or warm-up, but when the gun fired for the 110 metres hurdles at the Shanghai IAAF Diamond League meeting last Saturday night, the Olympic champion and world record holder didn’t even rise to the first barrier. He trotted a couple of steps out of the blocks, and stopped. Merely a flesh wound, the affable Merritt explained. Both in the mixed zone after the race and at the post-meeting press conference, Merritt stressed that he had felt some tightness &ndas...
By Joshua Papanikolaou Has anyone else grown tired of watching ten Africans with ‘PACE’ on their bib covering the screen for most of the telecast in a major marathon? How about when the pacer for a 1500m steps off the track 30m ahead of the lead pack – get it right or get off! Having a pacemaker has become standard practice for a middle and long-distance race of any quality to ensure a fast pace without anyone in the field needing to be in the lead early on. Too often, even at the elite level, pacema...
“There is an advantage to being the first mover. When you can get a surge, get your move in, everyone is reacting to you.” This was a recent quote I saw (thanks to letsrun.com) from college runner Elijah Greer, after he made a decisive move, at the bell, to win the Pac-12 track and field championships in the 800m. I took notice because it is what I and many other distance runners believe (for the majority of races), with it often being the difference between winning and losing. The ‘move’ can be made at a variety ...
Does it only ever rain in Shanghai in May when there’s athletics on? This thought occurred to me as I watched rain tumbling down on the streets of Shanghai from my hotel window. I’ve been to Shanghai three times now. In May each time, so the seasonality is the same. On the first occasion, in 2003, we were here for a week and never saw a drop of rain. We dine at a rooftop table along the fabulous Bund, we walked the streets, we played in the parks – all without ever once getting our feet wet. Both last year and this, however, ...
By Joshua Papanikolaou Joel Pocklington did not fail an attempt on his way to defending his national pole-vault title yet he could not carry on jumping towards a personal best. Only a few months since losing his father to cancer, Joel battled back from injury to claim his third consecutive Australian pole-vault title forcing his athletics career back on track. “I jumped 5.20m and won and then decided not to go anymore because it just sort of hit me that dad was not here to enjoy it with, it was bittersweet,” he says w...
By Josh Papanikolaou Ben St Lawrence, thank you for having a chat with Runner’s Tribe after your win in the 10,000m at the Payton Jordan Invitational at Stanford. The race was paced to give everyone at shot at the A-qualifier for the World Championships and you were well under that and also won the race, you must be pretty happy with the result? Thanks. I am very happy with it, most of my best results have been for minor places, so it feels great to finally get a win - particularly in race that has had some impressive ...
From the horror of Boston to the joy of the Newcastle Colour Run. The most raw of human emotions have been on display. And running has been at the centre of it all. I woke up on April 16th to the voice of Kurt Fearnley on ABC radio. This was nothing unusual really, given Kurt’s semi regular appearance on Newcastle’s brekkie show. What was unusual though, was what he described as Boston fell into mayhem. As images and news came through over the course of the day, it was sickening to think of how many people were involved. The saddes...
At mot times in Australia’s sporting history it has been possible to have quite an argument on the relative merits of our female and male athletes. Undeniably, the majority of our medals have been won by women. Of 19 individual Olympic gold medals won by Australians, eight women have contributed 12 and six men have contributed seven. The gender gap narrows when we turn to the world championships, where four men and four women have been individual champions. The women still hold an edge, however, having contributed six gold medals to four...
Hi Everyone I’m very honour that Runners Tribe has asked me to write a bit about my running experiences. This first blog is just about my recent summer as it’s still fresh in my mind, but being more of a cross country / mountain runner, I’ll be writing more about in the future. I have had a very successful time with my running this past summer. It began with winning the 6km race at Run Geelong in November. Just 4 days later was the Victorian 5000m Championships. Running a big personal best time in t...
I don’t know about you but I find it pretty hard to sit still. It’s April 17th and you’re perhaps a little bit tired from your respective athletics after-party ventures but your itching to do some sort of activity. You can’t run so what will it be… The Coach, Bruce, has suggested that if I’m going totally insane perhaps some cross training. Yuck! We all know what that usually means, ellipticals, bikes, gyms and pool belts. Not the sort of ‘fulfillment’ I’m looking for. So, this year...
