When did Australia first compete in the world cross-country championships.
If you answered: “Rabat, 1975,” you’d be right. Sort of. Largely. But you’d also be wrong. Sort of. Technically, but not over-technically.
Five years before our intrepid men and women trekked to Morocco, two Australians had already competed in a ‘world’...
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...
World cross-country 1981-85: amid extraordinary scenes in Madrid, Robert de Castella takes Australia into the individual top-10.
A year out from Bathurst 2021, Len Johnson continues his look at Australia in the world cross-country championships.
The men’s race at the 1981 world cross-country championships in Madrid finished amid extraordinary scenes as...
Norm Osborne, who passed away on 25 June after a long illness, was one of Australia’s pre-eminent coaches, guiding the careers of Olympic 400 metres silver medallist Rick Mitchell and former Australian 1500 metres record holders Marg Crowley and Mike Hillardt.
I should immediately add – “among many others”. Although...
A Column By Len Johnson
When Linden Hall ran 4:01.78 for 1500 metres at the Prefontaine Classic last weekend, she leapt to third place on the Oceania all-time list.
Hall’s fabulous performance was also good enough for third all-time Australian and third all-time Victorian.
Fair enough, you might reckon. The opposite of...
Karsten Warholm won nothing of consequence this year. He raced hardly anyone of consequence. Yet the dual world champion in the 400 metres hurdles is a viable candidate in every athlete of the year award going.
Did we mention yet that 2020 is a crazy year? (I think we did:...
You don’t have to dive deep into Australian world cross-country history to find yourself immersed in a stream of Steve Moneghetti statistics. From his first appearance in 1985 to his last in 2004, Moneghetti was the dominant force in our men’s teams.
Had the story of Australian participation been written...
As the lead pack in the senior women’s race battled its way around the second half of the tough Aarhus course in the recent world cross-country championships, it wasn’t easy to pick the likely winner.
The next runner to drop off, now that was another matter altogether. Hellen Obiri always...
Beer tunnels, a bridge across the track taking spectators to the infield, food trucks, flash tattoos and a DJ – spectators above a certain age had to be advised this was not a reference to a ‘superior’ department store but the job description of the bloke playing the music – meant there was never a dull moment. In deference to the same spectators, the volume was mercifully lowered.
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...
