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Latest feature articles, blogs, interviews and news from the world of track and field

The Flack Spirit

Matt Dawson - Runner's Tribe vault Every year hundreds of young Australian track and field athletes put their lives on hold to venture overseas in the winter months, mainly to America and Europe, in search of the best competition and personal best performances. This is not a remarkable occurrence. Indeed,...
Sunday night spent reliving those wonderful moments in Sydney as Catherine Freeman took the gold medal in the 400 metres. Wake up Friday morning to learn that Stewart McSweyn has taken down the national record in the 3000 at Rome’s Golden Gala Diamond League. Not a bad week, you’d have to say. Even better when you factor in a national record 4:00.42 for Jessica Hull in Berlin, yet another fast 1500 by McSweyn in Zagreb, winning there in 3:32.17 just a few days before Rome. Or Nicola McDermott getting over 1.95 metres to take third place in the Rome high jump.
Jim Walmsley is without a doubt America's greatest ever ultra trail runner. At 30 years of age Walmsley is best known for his success in ultrarunning, and especially as the record holder of the Western States 100. He is also the world record holder for 50 miles. Walmsley is soon to step onto the roads at the USA Olympic Marathon Trials, Feb 29, in Atlanta.  Walmsley has been clocking 175 mile (280km) weeks in training in preparation and also stopped the clock over half marathon at 1:04.00 in Houston, January 2019. And over the last year or so, Walmsley is doing something he hasn't done much of since college - track sessions.
When it comes to distance running, Oslo’s Bislett Stadium seems to be the gift that keeps on giving for Australians, Georgia Griffith the latest beneficiary with a national record in the 3000 metres on Thursday (30 May).
“Patience is a virtue” There are many things rough times teach you as an athlete and for myself and the last four years, patience, among many, is a big one on my list. And it’s finally starting to pay off after the rough patch I’ve experienced. At the end of 2009,...
On December the 6th, it will be 40 years since we saw one of the great performances  in Australian distance running history, when Robert de Castella won the 1981 Fukuoka Marathon in Japan, in a world record of 2.08.18. De Castella – known worldwide as ‘Deek’ – beat the 12 year-old record of fellow Australian Derek Clayton by 16 seconds and launched a marvelous career. At the time, however, de Castella’s time was not recognized as a world record. More on this later.
What’s that sound you hear? Well, if you’re anywhere near a national federation’s high performance unit it could be the sound of numbers crunching. The IAAF is moving to a new system of qualifying for the world championships and, assuming the IOC is totally on board with it, presumably the...
Written by Mark Tucker - Runner's Tribe “My philosophy is that I'm an artist. I perform an art not with a paint brush or a camera. I perform with bodily movement. Instead of exhibiting my art in a museum or a book or on canvas, I exhibit my art in...
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RT’s Run School featuring Mark Blomeley. Mark is a strength and conditioning coach with over 10 years experience in the sports and fitness industry. Currently, in Brisbane, he is a specialist strength and conditioning coach for runners from international standard elites to the everyday runner. http://www.markblomeley.com.au/ Workout Footage of 2 x...
Matt Fitzgerald is an acclaimed endurance sports coach, nutritionist, and author. His many books include On Pace, The Endurance Diet, 80/20 Running, and How Bad Do You Want It?  A friend of mine ran the California International Marathon recently. CIM is known for producing more Boston Marathon qualifiers (relative to field size) than any...