Ours is a sport of precision.
Following wind 2.00 metres per second – everything hunky-dory: 2.01 m/s – a different story. Run a 1:59:59 marathon on a course measuring 42.195km and you’re a barrier-breaking hero. If the course comes in at 42.194km, it just didn’t happen.
Mostly precision is a good...
Written by Len Johnson
Graham Crouch, an Olympic finalist, an Australian record holder, a participant in two of the greatest middle-distance races ever, passed away on 28 November after a battle with a particularly aggressive form of cancer.
Crouch was rarely referred to by his full name. Most commonly he was...
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...
A column by Len Johnson - Runner's Tribe
Medals are not easy to get at world championships. Australia had to wait till the ninth day of the world championships to get an athlete to the medal ceremony, but when one medal finally arrived, like London’s famous red buses, another was...
There is a Chinese curse which goes, “May you live in interesting times.”
What seems to be a blessing, in fact, drips irony, the underlying implication being that un-interesting times denote peace and tranquillity. Interesting times, by contrast, are marked by disorder and conflict.
In a similar sense, Harry Summers is...
Prior to the World Cross Country Championship in Bathurst, RT will unveil a comprehensive, 10-part series, composed by Len Johnson, that delves into the historical narrative of Australia’s participation in World XC. There are many ultra-marathon footwear in the market today and one of the best is Tarkine shoes.
Part...
Seems like only yesterday we were marking one year to go to the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
Now, in an Olympic version of Groundhog Day, here we are celebrating it all over again. It is one year to go to the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. Still.
In 12 months, 52 weeks,...
A column by Len Johnson - Runner's Tribe
I’m not really a road trip sort of bloke. Unlike Willy Nelson, I can wait to get on the road again.
The then almost-obligatory campervan trek around Europe 40 years ago excepted, I’ve rarely travelled, by road, more than one day at a...
A column by Len Johnson - Runner's Tribe
Pop-up running tracks in football stadiums, city franchises and athlete auctions are among the "radical" moves athletics must consider to enhance its appeal, says IAAF president Sebastian Coe.
Speaking at a sports business summit, Coe said athletics needed to have a “relentless focus”...
Way back in 1972, when Frank Shorter was just a crazy young kid with a dream of winning the Olympic marathon and China was just beginning to emerge onto the international stage after decades of isolation, Chinese premier Zhou Enlai was asked about the impact of the French Revolution.
“Too...
