Australians know ‘schoolies’ as the week-long celebration for high school graduates that takes place after final exams in late November and early December.
The same calendar period brings the Australian All Schools championships. ‘Schoolies’ for high school athletes, if you like. Except for one thing: you only get one chance...
Another eye-popping day in Valencia on Sunday, 1 December 2024, produced an Australian record when Andrew Buchanan crossed the line in 2:06:22. It was the first time an Australian had broken 2:07. An Australian male, we should say, now that Ruth Chepngetich with her 2:09:56 has brought such a time into the realm of the possible for women as well.
A legacy event that didn’t deliver a legacy. On life support after five years. A course you couldn’t run fast on.
Sydney staged Australia’s first marathon back in 1909. The city hosted an Olympic marathon in the year 2000. The course was reckoned to be “a beauty,” crossing the Sydney Harbour Bridge – for which the descriptor ‘iconic’ is, for a rare occasion, appropriate - from the start in North Sydney, circling the lush Centennial Parklands before making its way westwards to Homebush and the finish inside Stadium Australia.
The recent announcement that there would be no road events at the Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games was poignant enough for Australian athletics followers. As Commonwealth marathon champions ‘Deek’, ‘Monner’, Kerryn, Lisa, Michael and Jess are on first-name terms as far as most of us are concerned.
Times are of some significance in popular culture. After midnight is when “we let it all hang out” – according to J.J. Cale, at least. In myriad ditties the dawn heralds the beginning of a new day.
A disturbing image it is, though I have no personal knowledge I hasten to add. But let me take you back to those early 20th century days. The Hobart Harriers and New Town Harriers had just been formed in the capital. Launceston Harriers quickly followed an early example of anything that happens in the south of Tasmania is quickly replicated in the north. And vice versa.
It took until the very last event on the program for the athlete of Paris 2024 to emerge. And it took until the very last metres of the 42 thousand, 195 metres (plus a metre per kilometre to ensure there is no under-distance measurement) before it became clear Sifan Hassan was going to win the women’s marathon.
The 10,000 meters might be attenuated drama by its very nature, but 25 laps leading to a margin of victory of just one-tenth of a second? If that doesn’t raise the hairs on the back of your neck, check your vital signs.
Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone has done it again. For a third time she completed a US Trials-global championships world record double in the 400 metres hurdles in the Stade de France on Thursday night (8 August).
Indeed, the medals came from start to finish on Wednesday, 8 August in Paris. Bronze for Rhydian Cowley and Jemima Montag in the mixed relay marathon road walk in the morning, bronze for Matt Denny in the discus and then Kennedy’s gold in the dying moments of the day’s program at the Stade de France.
