If you’ve been paying the slightest attention to this column over the years, you have probably worked out that I’m a big fan of the annual Track & Field News rankings.
There’s lots of rankings lists going round now – imitation being the sincerest form of flattery, and all that...
Journalists everywhere love a cliché. Each well-worn phrase (see what I did there?) represents a few precious words of the 600-or-so length of most stories that they don’t have to think of for themselves. The more sophisticated practitioners disguise their superfluity by a ready resort to adjectives.
Sports journalists are...
The Dubai marathon has been going 20 years now. It’s about time I made up my mind about it.
For most of those years, Dubai has produced outstanding times. The 2019 edition certainly did – Ruth Chepngetich of Kenya’s 2:17:08 was the third-fastest marathon ever by a woman. In second...
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...
Runner's Tribe
At the Muller Indoor Grand Prix in Birmingham last weekend (16 February), Joseph Deng set an Australian record in winning the 800 metres in 1:47.27.
Or did he?
According to the records section of Athletics Australia’s website, the mark Deng bettered was the 1:47.48 by Ryan Foster in 2010. All...
A column by Len Johnson
The world cross-country is coming to Australia, just the second time in its history the championships will have been contested in this part of the world. To say that I am happy about that would be a gross understatement.
It was announced this week that the...
Like many other fans, I’m excited about the imminent world cross-country championships. Not least, because I’m going to be there.
From the outset, the Danish city of Aarhus has promised us something special, its defining aspect the most exciting roof-top chase since Michael Caine and his crew evaded the chasing...
Hey-diddle-diddle,
The cat and the fiddle,
The cow jumped over the moon;
The little dog laughed to see such fun,
And the dish ran away with the spoon.
I’m no ‘dish’, maybe, but last time I was in Denmark, I did run away with a spoon. Still got it, too.
Back in the mists of...
“This is a game-changer.”
If I had a dollar for every time this phrase was used about the Aarhus 2019 world cross-country championships – well, you know how the cliché ends. The fact that I’m writing it means that I obviously don’t have a dollar for every time, etc, etc.
The...
Catriona Bisset made her intentions plain in the final of the 800 metres at the Australian championships. Competing in her first national final, she grabbed the lead early and front-ran her way to her first national title.
Bisset’s recent runs have mostly been like that. She ran from the front...
