A column by Len Johnson - Runner's Tribe
Here’s a subversive notion. If you are an Australian marathoner looking to make the jump from national to world-class, are you better off staying at home than heading to London, Berlin, Fukuoka or Osaka.
For years now, the answer to should I go...
A column by Len Johnson - Runner's Tribe
The most unexpected of many coincidences and surprises surrounding the launch of
The Landy Era back in 2009 was the appearance of Billy Mills.
My book had already enjoyed the benefit of several twists of good fate, chiefly in being
ready for launch at the...
A column by Len Johnson - Runner's Tribe
There were two gongs for athletics at the Sport Australia Hall of Fame dinner in Melbourne this week. Raelene Boyle was elevated to Legend of Australian Sport status and Steve Hooker was admitted to the Hall of Fame.
They don’t admit mugs to...
A column by Len Johnson - Runner's Tribe
Moscow 1980. Waldemar Cierpinski broke away from Holland’s Gerard Nijboer along the Moscow River late in the race to take his second consecutive Olympic title by around 100 metres.
A more than respectable race. A more than respectable time – two hours 11...
A column by Len Johnson - Runner's Tribe
Pop-up running tracks in football stadiums, city franchises and athlete auctions are among the "radical" moves athletics must consider to enhance its appeal, says IAAF president Sebastian Coe.
Speaking at a sports business summit, Coe said athletics needed to have a “relentless focus”...
A column by Len Johnson - Runner's Tribe
Damn you Eliud Kipchoge! There was Berlin 2017 poised to demonstrate all over again the glorious uncertainty of the marathon and you had to go and ruin it.
Kipchoge being the great athlete he is, there was more enough compensatory glory in the...
A column by Len Johnson - Runner's Tribe
It’s official. Steve Moneghetti is a legend.
News this week that Mona is one of two inaugural inductees into the Berlin Marathon’s Hall of Fame. Already a Ballarat legend, Moneghetti has gradually branched out until now he is a world legend (Ballarat folk,...
By Len Johnson - Runner's Tribe
A few days into the world championships in London a friend commented: “Four days, full stadium every session, great competition. So how come all I’m hearing about athletics is negative.”
He was right to wonder. Those few days had brought some wonderful competition, all of...
By Len Johnson - Runner's Tribe
Watching one of the post-world championship Diamond Leagues, something jarred in the commentary.
Specifically, it was the introduction to the sprint fields. At one meeting – the Birmingham IDL, I think it was – the announcer kept referring to the competitors as “gold medallists”. Seeing...
By Len Johnson - Runner's Tribe
I read an interesting blog this week which suggested the narrative around women’s sports was in need of urgent change.
Sally Bergesen, founder of the Seattle, USA-based apparel company Oiselle, wrote: “when you look at the dominant narratives for female athletes, it becomes clear that...
