A column by Len Johnson
The observer was not impressed by the men’s 1500 metres final, describing it as “the most ridiculously tactical championship ever run.”
Which championship? Which final? An honourable fail if you plumped for the most recent Olympic final in Rio five years ago when Matt Centrowitz won...
If, like me, you take a passing interest in the NCAA cross-country championships, it may start and finish with Morgan McDonald’s victory in November 2018. Or maybe you have firm memories of Pat Tiernan’s win in 2016.
It’s been a mixed week for records. First, on the Friday night before the Pre Classic – the pre-Pre Classic? – Francine Niyonsaba won the women’s two-mile event in 8:59.08, missing the world record by just half-a-second.
I love the world cross-country championships. At a personal level, however, I can take cross-country or leave it.
By Len Johnson
Eliud Kipchoge is re-defining men’s marathon running. An Olympic gold medal, a world record, 11 wins from 12 major marathons (12 from 13 if you include the Breaking 2 project), the last 10 consecutive - will tend to do that.
A better question might be: is Kipchoge also...
A column by Len Johnson – Runner’s Tribe
Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
This definition is attributed to Albert Einstein. It has also become such an over-used cliché, according to the smarty-pants people at news and opinion website Salon, that further use...
But that was before the whole sport was hit by a missile with the news that Peter Bol had returned an “AAF (adverse analytical finding) for Erythropoietin Receptor Agonists (ERA): rEPO (rEPO).” Synthetic EPO, in other words, which is a proscribed substance.
Is 10 seconds for the men’s 100 metres going the way of four minutes for the mile as measure of elite performance.
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.
Busier than santa's elves | A Column By Len Johnson
Ron Clarke won three successive Zatopek 10,000s at the start of the 1960s, setting his first world records in 1963.
Clarke likewise won the last two Zatopeks as the decade concluded. Which prompts the question – what happened in the years...
