Dreams fulfilled on field
A column by Len Johnson - Reporting from the Gold Coast
It might be stretching things too far to call Carrara Stadium a field of dreams – the so-far-hapless Gold Coast Suns might object, for a start.
But it has been on the field that Australian dreams have...
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,...
A column by Len Johnson - Runner's Tribe
Two things surprised me at my first Commonwealth Games as a journalist in Auckland in 1990.
The first, Andrew Lloyd’s victory in an amazing 5000 metres race, still surprises me to this day. I don’t know if ‘Lloydie’ still sometimes wonders if it...
Written by Len Johnson - Runner's Tribe
It’s high time we re-evaluated the worth of a relay gold medal, or rather, its relative value versus an individual gold medal.
One of the talking points during and after the world championships was that, in winning gold medals in two relays, the mixed...
It’s safe to say the combined value of the shoes worn by the women’s lead pack in New York last weekend – even adjusted for inflation – would have been many times that of Pizzolato’s shoes (just as his would have been way above those worn by Emil Zatopek and Jim Peters).
We’re beginning this look at 2023 with the world cross-country because . . . well. Because it is the world cross-country, it was being staged in Australia and it is the biggest international event staged here since the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games (due respect to the 2001 IAAF Grand Prix final and the Melbourne 2006 and Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games.
Don’t bring a knife to a gun-fight
By Len Johnson reporting from the Gold Coast
In the movie The Untouchables, the Sean Connery character offers the memorable line to one of his victims: “Never bring a knife to a gun-fight.”
It took a while for Kenya to cotton on to this logic,...
In the approaching weeks, 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. Step into the future of running with Tarkine Goshawk shoes, designed to push...
The World Athletics Athlete of the Year is determined by a vote of administrators, a (loosely defined) athletics ‘family’ and fans (that is, members of the general public).
The administrators – aka World Athletics Council members – count for 50 percent; the family – including media, coaches, agents and meeting...
Is it just me, or is the pace of indoor record breaking picking up.
Jakob Ingebrigtsen took almost half-a-second off the men’s world indoor record in Lievin, France on Thursday night, reducing it to 3:30.60, a time which is still extremely handy outdoors. But we’re not talking world records here,...
