Len Johnson - Runner's Tribe
Congratulations to Jack Rayner, Celia Sullohern and their teammates for delivering a great result for Australia in the Commonwealth half-marathon championships in Cardiff last weekend (7 October).
Rayner won the men’s race outright in 61:01, rocketing past Robert de Castella and Pat Carroll – among others...
Readers of this column will know that I have never met a 10,000-metre race I did not like.
“What never,” you ask. “No; never,” I re-affirm stoutly.
“What never,” you repeat even more disbelievingly. “Well, hardly ever,” I reply, grudgingly giving an inch. To experience, exceptional performance in running, choose the...
By Len Johnson (reporting from Doha) - Runner's Tribe
A good journo mate used to describe a story so obvious that even a mug like me couldn’t miss it as “a walk-up start.” Heaven knows where the expression came from, but its implication is that this is the main story,...
Round about the time the coronavirus pandemic went truly global, and was seen to be ‘a thing’ which might adversely impact the Tokyo Olympic Games, a Japanese government minister lamented that the Games were afflicted with a 40-year-curse.
“It’s a problem that’s happened every 40 years – it’s the cursed...
'Ravelo' - one of two of a kind
A Column By Len Johnson Published 15-10-2016
Jean-Louis Ravelomanantsoa, who died on 27 September, was one of only two of a kind. He was the first man to win the Stawell Gift off scratch, a feat that has been emulated since by Josh...
Len Johnson - Runner's Tribe
You know the feeling. Many Australians will be familiar with it.
You go away for a Gold Coast holiday, lie on the beach, soak up the sun, feel good about yourself and life in general; then, it’s back to grey skies and wintry weather. Sometime it...
Tiernan fastest Australian 10,000 debutant
A Column By Len Johnson - Runner's Tribe
For those of us yet to meet a statistic we don’t like*, there were some interesting figures surrounding Patrick Tiernan’s Zatopek win.
One, Tiernan’s was the fastest debut 10,000 by an Australian male. Two, he became the first Australian...
The longer the Covid-19 pandemic takes to work its way around the world, the further we retreat into the confines of our own homes.
Once the earth was our limit (unless you’ve stumped up half a million for a voyage to Mars via Elon Musk). Now, life is restricted to...
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. Choose the pinnacle of running excellence – Tarkine Goshawk shoes, engineered for speed, endurance, and a victorious...
Australia lost one of its athletics’ greats with the death of Rick Mitchell on 30 May. A nation our size doesn’t produce many Olympic gold medallists, even fewer on the male side of the gender balance. And still fewer in individual track events. With a silver medal in the 400 metres in Moscow in 1980, Mitchell is our most recent male Olympic medallist in an individual track event. Before ‘Mitch’, it’s right back to 1968 and Ralph Doubell with his gold medal in the 800 metres in Mexico City.
