Hailing from Sydney, Wake Forest athlete, Zach Facioni, is a bit of a gun. A few weeks ago in Sydney, he beat a deep field, clocking 7:51.61 to win the NSW 3000m Championship. And over the past few years he has been re-writing Wake Forests' record books.
We caught up with Zach, to check-in on how he has fared during this global pandemic and what's going on...
Japan’s Fukuoka marathon used to be the best non-championship marathon of the year.You knew when it would be run: the first Sunday in December each year. You knew who would be running: the best six international runners organisers could get on a ‘start at the top and keep going until six men have said ‘yes’’ basis; the best six Japanese runners (few of whom ever said ‘no’ to Japan’s most prestigious race); anyone else around the world who had bettered the 2:27 qualifying time and was willing to pay their own way.The Olympics were the only global championships back then, so most years Fukuoka might bring together the European and Commonwealth champions, the winners of traditional races like Boston and the English AAA championship and others burning with ambition. Before there was a world championships, the Fukuoka marathon was the next-best thing.
Right now – 27 November, as this is written – it is exactly 64 years past the mid-point of the athletics’ program at the Melbourne 1956 Olympic Games.
Sixty-four is not an anniversary we usually celebrate, I’ll grant you, but consider two points of mitigation in that regard. Firstly, the four-year Olympic cycle does not lend itself to the five-year rhythm of most anniversary celebrations: the two waves only coincide once every 20 years, which is way too long between drinks.
Love him or just dig him; as Peter Bol, Joseph Deng, and Ryan Gregson will confirm – he is one tough nut to crack, when in shape. We caught up with the 2018 Commonwealth Games 800m bronze medalist, and reigning Australian 1500m champ, Luke Mathews.
RT: Luke, good to have you back on RT. In this strangest of years, your absence in Europe was noted and we are all missing your prolific, motivating Strava logs. Assuming ongoing issues with Plantar Fasciits is to blame? What’s the latest?
LM: Hey guys! Thanks for having me. Certainly been a tough year to start the least. I hobbled around most of January and February with on going plantar issues, so the delayed Olympics was somewhat a blessing in disguise. I’m not going to say I wouldn’t have made the team if it was on in 2020, but it certainly would have been challenging
We have heard it and said it all year – we are living in crazy times. We have also accepted the term – ‘this is the new normal’. Well I can definitely say it is hard to imagine things going back to the way they once were. When will we shake hands with strangers again, not have to hand sanitize every time we touch something, panic at the sound of a cough, or feel uncomfortable in large crowds? The world is definitely a new place, however what I will share with you now is how some Aussie athletes managed to fly all over the world to athletic meets while staying safe to compete during a global pandemic.
By any measure, 2020 has been an ordinary year. So many of the sporting milestones which punctuate our calendar either went uncelebrated or, when they could proceed, were “celebrated” in eerie silence.
One Australian running tradition was maintained, however. The calendar year ended with a resounding performance at 10,000 metres, for which we must give grateful thanks to Patrick Tiernan.
For the first time in over 50 years, the annual Zatopek 10,000 metres races did not take place. Happily, they will instead be raced in January, 2021. But Tiernan found a December 10,000 race to run, at “The Track Meet”, in San Juan Capistrano, and was able to enjoy his own private celebration after setting an Australian record 27:22.55.
Tiernan finished second to Eric Jenkins of the US, who won in 27:22.06. His time was also an Oceania record. San Juan was formerly a Spanish mission in Capistrano, famous for the annual return of migratory swallows each northern hemisphere spring. Truly, all Tiernan’s swallows came home to roost on 5 December, 2020.
A column by Len Johnson
Neil Robbins knew Ron Clarke well enough to call him ‘Fat’, Clarke’s boyhood family nickname. He was a teammate of John Landy and Marjorie Jackson; a clubmate of Les Perry, Geoff Warren and Dave Stephens, ‘the Flying Milko’. He trained with Merv Lincoln and many...
RT caught up with Australia’s 4 x NCAA champion, Morgan McDonald for a little Q&A.
RT: Where are you currently based and how is training going?
Morgan McDonald: I am currently in Boulder, Colorado with Team Boss. After a bit of a bumpy year, I’ve had a great few months of...
The name Jye Edwards has been circling around the Australian middle distance scene for years now. A talented junior, destined perhaps for greatest, but held back by those all to common injuries. But now, under the close eye of one of Australia's most successful coaches in history, Dick Telford, Jye Edward's stock is on the rise. A no BS type of runner, modest, polite, loaded with both endurance and speed; it's hard not to want this guy to succeed.
We caught up with Jye and had a pretty cool chat....
RT: Jye, good to have you on RT. Congrats with your Albie Thomas Mile victory (Ed. Jye clocked 3:57.30). You must be stoked with that?
JE: Hey mate, it’s a pleasure to be here!
Thanks a lot, I was very happy to be able to nab the win at the Albie Thomas Mile against such a quality field. It’s not often you get to toe the line with an NCAA champion and a 3-time Olympian in the same race, as well as several other top athletes. A great end to the year and hopefully a good springboard into more races in the New Year.
It’s been quite the year for records. World records, area records, national records going down like ninepins.
It’s possible that without much ‘normal’ athletics happening, record-breaking creates even bigger headlines. Setting up a night of records, as happened when Joshua Cheptegei and Letesenbet Gidey broke the men’s 10,000 and women’s...
