A column by Len Johnson - Runner's Tribe
When I boarded a plane bound for Alice Springs a couple of weeks ago, the following things held true: no-one had run a marathon in under two hours; Paula Radcliffe’s world record marathon remained almost a full two minutes outside the reach...
Great track and road runner that she is, Willis is one of those who “grows another leg” when it comes to cross-country.
Indoor middle-distance records and all-time lists are under assault, you may have noticed.
Not just under assault, actually; more getting smashed – particularly the all-time lists. Pleasingly, Australians have also been involved.
Ethiopia’s Gudaf Tsegay set a world record 3:53.09 in France on 9 February. Then last weekend, came an Australian...
There I was, standing in the bowels of Hampden Park in my stockinged feet, my shoes with one of the athletes in what could charitably be called ‘my charge’, the other whisked away to heaven knows where by a Glasgow 2014 official and coming back heaven knows when.
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 Kong...
A column by Len Johnson - Runner's Tribe
There were two gongs for athletics at the Sport Australia Hall of Fame dinner in Melbourne this week. Raelene Boyle was elevated to Legend of Australian Sport status and Steve Hooker was admitted to the Hall of Fame.
They don’t admit mugs to...
Melbourne's Olympics 60 years on: A Column By Len Johnson
Sixty years ago this Monday (21 November), a crowd a quarter of a million strong choked the streets of Melbourne, bringing traffic to a standstill.
“The throng had little motive other than to be there,” a contemporary report ran, “and to...
A column by Len Johnson - Runner's Tribe
One year ends and another begins, just as it has for the past 40 years, at Falls Creek.
What were once training camps have now become family holidays, but otherwise little has changed since my first visit here in 1978-79. Actually, lots of...
I went to the 2018 Zatopek meeting with two expectations – first, that we were in for a drenching; second, in diminishing order of likelihood, that Stewart McSweyn would run a world championships qualifier, the fastest time by an Australian in race history, break the national record, break the...
A column by Len Johnson - Runner's Tribe
When Sally Pearson crossed the line to take a silver medal in the 100 metres hurdles at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, she let out a scream of equal parts elation and amazement. Moments later she gasped in a trackside interview: “Oh,...
