By Len Johnson - Runner's Tribe
Herb Elliott didn’t lose too often.
Never, in his junior and senior career over his specialty, 1500 metres and the mile. There might have been a mile in his schoolboy days at Perth’s Aquinas College he lost to a schoolmate three years his senior. But...
A look at the latest breaking 2 project.
When it comes to second chances, you can pick your won cliché. Some old sayings take the glass-half-full perspective; others look on the gloomier, glass-half-empty side.
“A soufflé doesn’t rise twice,” former Australian prime minister Paul Keating observed scathingly of a political opponent...
JULIAN SPENCE: Written by Len Johnson - Runner's Tribe Members Only
You’re not far into a conversation with Julian Spence when he observes: “I’m a bit of a running nerd.” One aspect of this is an eclectic library of running literature, of which more later.
Next, consider Nick Earl’s account of...
It’s the eve of the national cross-country championships as I write this. What else would I be thinking about other than cross-country?
One of the things I’m pondering is whether there is still a place for the cross-country specialist in the world of cross-country.
If you’ve run any cross-country at all,...
Phooey!
Imagine being in Harry Summers’ shoes last Sunday.
First, he won the City to Surf. If he saw it as he flashed under the gantry the clock would have told him he just missed Steve Moneghetti’s race record – 40:05 it would have read. Mona’s record is 40:03.
Then, confusion. The...
It doesn’t take much to send me racing off down memory lane. This could be because the past is the only place where I’m still running PBs.
The impetus this time came from a query as to whether I might have a copy of the 1978 City-to-Surf race results. I...
A column by Len Johnson - Runner's Tribe
When Sally Pearson crossed the line to take a silver medal in the 100 metres hurdles at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, she let out a scream of equal parts elation and amazement. Moments later she gasped in a trackside interview: “Oh,...
The two women standing side by side at Lakeside Stadium had held the national record for 800 metres for a total of 28 years and 155 days.
Catriona Bisset had contributed just 11 days to that aggregate total, Charlene Rendina the other 28 years 144. It was Bisset’s 11 days...
A week that begins with the smashing of an Australian record which has stood for 43 years is already a good one, but the entire month of July has been a bit of a bonanza for Australian middle-distance running.
Stretching the scale out to include the long-distance events, and bending...
Catriona Bisset has broken the Australian record for 800 metres.
On Sunday, 21 July, at the Muller Games Diamond League in London’s Olympic stadium (and West Ham United’s home ground), Bisset finished second to Lynsey Sharp in one minute 58.78 seconds, slicing 0.22 off Charlene Rendina’s long-standing national record.
Had this...
