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Features

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

The Stawell Gift may have had 138 previous runnings, but like most other major sporting events, it couldn’t put one foot in front of the other during the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic. The 120-meter handicap sprint, run on a manicured grass track at Stawell’s Central Park, has launched a million stories...
MATT FITZGERALD – Runner’s Tribe Matt Fitzgerald is an acclaimed endurance sports coach, nutritionist, and author. His many books include The Endurance Diet, 80/20 Running, and How Bad Do You Want It?  The body is smart. When you increase your habitual activity level, your body consumes more energy and therefore requires more energy input...
People who know me know I don’t believe in perfection but that you prepare meticulously, be on the start line in the best shape possible and then execute your race plan as well as you can. After that the result will be often determined by many other factors, but you finish knowing that you have done everything you could. Having said that what I do believe is that most marathon runners have a four year window of opportunity and for me that was between the ages of twenty eight and thirty two when I had absorbed adequate training for my body to be strong enough to run a marathon, and I had completed enough events to know what was required to run a good one.
In February 2004, Lee Troop was a man on a mission. His goals for 2004 were to have a crack at the Australian Marathon Record (2:07.51 held by Robert de Castella) at the London Marathon and to finish in the top 10 at the Athen’s Olympic Marathon. To achieve these goals, Lee changed his training focus from the more traditional Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday ‘hard / quality sessions’ to the following, more ‘marathon specific’ training program.
In early 2003 Mona was interviewed by Neil Macdonald. The below training schedule and training/running tips are courtesy of Neil Macdonald.  Neil MacDonald managed the Geelong Region Cross Country team from 2000-2007.
Linden Hall runs a 1500 metres in a time beginning with ‘three’. Rohan Browning runs the 100 metres in a time ending in ‘05’. Sometimes it’s just all about the numbers. Hall becomes the first Australian woman to break four minutes for 1500 metres. Browning hits the Tokyo Olympic automatic...
First Australian woman ever sub-4.  Her time of 3:59.67 ranks her number 1 in the world for 2021, as of 2nd April 2021. Her time would have ranked her #3 for the 2020 year and #14 for the 2019 year.
Kerryn McCann was best known as a marathoner – but she was one of Australia’s best all-round distance runners. As Len Johnson states in 'Australian Marathon Stars' - "She didn’t have a mean bone in her body, but she was a fierce competitor who didn’t like to lose." She was best known for winning the marathon at the 2002 and 2006 Commonwealth Games.
In this extensive Runner’s Tribe series the world’s best ultra and trail runners share their training. Every few days we will be posting a new athletes’ weekly program during a peak training period. Next up we have journeyman/masters runner from the United States, Martin Schneekloth. In 2019, Martin ran...
Jared Tallent’s retirement leaves Australia one champion short in the race walking department. Four Olympic medals – one gold, two silver and one bronze – over three Olympic Games eloquently attest to that. Coincidentally, Melbourne Track Classic, formerly Australia’s most prestigious invitational track and field meeting but now, in this...