It was once said of the architect Christopher Wren, “if you seek his monument, look around.” Wren’s monuments were the buildings he designed.
Similarly, you could say of Bill Baillie, who died on Christmas Day, aged 84, “if you want to know what sort of runner he was, ask around.”
Baillie...
A few days back I officiated at a Victorian Milers Club meeting, the second of the 2018-19 season. Over 320 athletes participated in a total of 29 races over 800 (17 races) and 1500 metres (12).
Not bad for a little organisation which started with just 71 competitors over six...
I went to the 2018 Zatopek meeting with two expectations – first, that we were in for a drenching; second, in diminishing order of likelihood, that Stewart McSweyn would run a world championships qualifier, the fastest time by an Australian in race history, break the national record, break the...
By Len Johnson - Runner's Tribe
I went bush walking this week. Nothing epic: a couple of nights’ camping in Victoria’s Grampians and walks to Mt Sturgeon and Mt Abrupt, and along the Wannon River to fill in the days.
Until...
‘Cause no, no, nobody knows you
When you're down and out.
In your pocket, not one penny,
And as for friends, you don't have any
Just six years ago, sailing was the toast of the town. A huge success at the London Olympics, lauded by all from the prime minister to Snowy on...
A column by Len Johnson
An article this week on Track & Field News’s webpage piqued my interest.
“Tokyo 2020 organisers discuss 6am start for marathon” ran the headline for a Kyodo News story listed under Today’s News Headlines. A second soon appeared, this one from the Asahi Shimbun, the race-long...
By Len Johnson - Runner's Tribe
The IAAF has shelved its plan to base qualification for the Doha 2019 world championships on its new rankings system.
Instead, the rankings, which IAAF president Sebastian Coe acknowledged to be “a complex system”, will be trialled through 2019 so that athletes and federations can...
Len Johnson - Runner's Tribe
Mary Keitany has yet to put her two best marathon halves together into a whole. When she does, as my old coach used to say, she could be dangerous.
In London last year, Keitany ran a 66:54 first half of the marathon as she set out...
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...
Len Johnson - Runner's Tribe
Sometimes, when we laud athletes for consistency, it seems we are damning them with faint praise. It’s as if excellence can’t really be excellence if it is repeatable.
There’s some logic to that. Things cannot be outstanding unless they stand out. What they usually stand out...
