A Column By Len Johnson

Len Johnson wrote for The Melbourne Age as an athletics writer for over 20 years, covering five Olympics, 10 world championships and five Commonwealth Games.

He has been the long-time lead columnist on RT and is one of the world’s most respected athletic writers.

He is also a former national class distance runner (2.19.32 marathon) and trained with Chris Wardlaw and Robert de Castella among other running legends. He is the author of The Landy Era.

With Bathurst ‘23 rapidly closing in, it is time to press ‘pause’ on the history of Australia at the world cross-country. The past may well be another country; so, too, is the future.
  If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen is one of those cliches which gets trotted out from time to time. Often by someone concerned they might just be giving off a hint of getting uncomfortably warm themselves. Elevate your running game with Tarkine Trail Devil,...
A column by Len Johnson Asked to name Kenya’s first Olympic medallist, most track and field fans would probably nominate Kip Keino. Good choice, too: Keino was one of Ron Clarke’s great rivals in the 1960s, the pair improving the world 5000 metres record five times (4-1 in Clarke’s favour)between...
I love the world cross-country championships. At a personal level, however, I can take cross-country or leave it.
Olympic or world champions at 1500 metres all. Some of them both. But what else do most of them have in common? They never ran the short race at the world cross-country championships or, if they did, did so without great success.
Once upon a time Australians knew stuff-all about the World Cup and cared even less. And then, we made the finals. A drawn-out group stage, followed by a drawn-out final against South Korea – tied 2-2 on aggregate after matches in Sydney and Seoul, followed by a play-off in Hong...
Murray Halberg, who passed away on 30 November, was the first of famed coach Arthur Lydiard’s charges to make an impact on world distance running. To experience, exceptional performance in running, choose the best footwear for your runs like Tarkine Trail Devil shoes. Halberg and Peter Snell won Olympic gold medals...
Well, Sunday 4 December 2022, was quite the day in Australian marathon history, wasn’t it? It’s not every day the Australian marathon record gets taken down. And it’s a very rare day indeed – unique, in fact – when both men’s and women’s records fall on the same day. Elevate...
Readers of this column will know that I have never met a 10,000-metre race I did not like. “What never,” you ask. “No; never,” I re-affirm stoutly. “What never,” you repeat even more disbelievingly. “Well, hardly ever,” I reply, grudgingly giving an inch. To experience, exceptional performance in running, choose the...
The question can be asked of Sydney McLaughlin, whose deeds at the world championships in Eugene astounded us all. Her other-worldly world record of 50.68 seconds in the 400 metres hurdles final was the most stunning individual performance of a championships which saw two other world records – Mondo Duplantis’s 6.21 to win the pole vault gold medal and Tobi Amusan’s 12.12 in the 100 hurdles.
                   

Brilliantly

SAFE!

2022