A column by Len Johnson – Runner’s Tribe
Next year’s world championships in Doha will feature another Breaking 2 event.
Not two hours this time, but two days. To ameliorate the brutally hot conditions of a Persian Gulf summer, the two marathons will start at midnight.
OK, that’s actually not two separate...
By Len Johnson
The years 2020 and 2021 have successively been “a year like no other” (even if 2021 seemed depressingly like 2020).
I don’t know about a year like no other, but when it comes to Australia and the Track & Field News annual rankings, 2021 was certainly a year...
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.
Part 7 of 10 – Written by Len Johnson
On this occasion, we’re talking about the 1990s, or that...
It’s often forgotten how slowly and grudgingly full recognition was given to the fact that women could actually run. Women weren’t allowed to compete in Olympic track and field until 1928, when the 100 metres and the 800 were the only two running events. The 800 was dropped after confected hysteria over some of the competitors finishing in a ‘distressed state’, a criterion which somehow never applied in the men’s event.
A column by Len Johnson – Runner’s Tribe
One of the great features of the build-up to the Zatopek 10,000 used to be seeing the main contenders showing their form with a race, maybe even two races, over 5000 metres.
Let’s commemorate two great distance runners by calling it the Pre-Zatopek...
A column by Len Johnson - Runner's Tribe
And the people passing by, stare in wild wonder . . .*
My 2017 night of staring in wild wonder was 8 August: the venue, London Olympic Stadium.
The race is the men’s 800 metres final. Pierre-Ambroise Bosse is in the field. He is...
Said Aouita’s time in the early to mid-2000s as Australia’s national distance coach was controversial, to say the least. He charmed some, alarmed others – the Venn diagram of these two groups significantly overlapping – but life while he was in the position was always interesting.
When non-residents characterise Canberra as “the bush capital”, they’re usually evoking a range of emotions, most of them hostile. Contempt for the political and bureaucratic classes sits at the extreme end of that range with scorn, disparagement and bemused indifference following in descending order of malevolence.
Occasionally, though, the descriptor...
One should always pay attention to Track & Field News’ guide to a world championship, but it was the image of the “Welcome to Eugene” sign heading its preview of Eugene 2022 which caught the eye and prompted further thought.
Welcome to Eugene.
Pop. 171,210
Track Town USA
Makes you wonder, and not...
By Len Johnson (reporting from Doha) - Runner's Tribe
Hassan completes 1500/10,000m double; Obiri bounces back; Rojas ‘scares’ triple WR
In another night of superlatives at the world championships, the men’s shot put reached a standard never before approached, much less seen, at a worlds or Olympics, while Sifan Hassan and...
