athletics inside
ISSUE 09 aug 09 www.insideathletics.com.au
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JUMPING AHEAD
OUR LONG JUMP STARS
melissa Breen FAST TRACK TO THE TOP
WHAT’S OUR BEST 10K ROAD RACE?
THE BOY FROM BALLARAT COLLIS BIRMINGHAM
JEREMY ROFF
OUR HARDEST WORKING MILER
PLUS:
THE PSYCHOLOGY OF PERFORMANCE
GOLD COAST MARATHON RACING IN AN ENGLISH WINTER VISIT WWW.INSIDEATHLETICS.COM.AU FOR THE LATEST NEWS
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athletics inside
ISSUE 09 aug 09
inside this issue
4 editorial
6 AROUND THE TRACKS
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7 GEAR TO GO 8 THE BOY FROM BALLARAT 10 jumping ahead 12 JEREMY ROFF - MILER
16 MELISSA BREEN - SPRINTER
18 MIND OVER MATTER 20 RACING IN AN ENGLISH WINTER 25 STAWELL GIFT 26 COASTING TO GOLD 28 WHAT’S OUR BEST 10K? 32 CALENDAR 33 THE LAST LAP
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MAKING TRACKS Madeline pape
In between her busy training and competition schedule, World University Games 800m champion Madeleine Pape is a journalism student at the Royal Melbourne Insititute of Tehnology (RMIT). In her first piece for Inside Athletics, Madeleine catches up with Olympic pole vault champion Steve Hooker and takes a look at the role of visualisation is his and other sportspeople’s success.
Image courtecy FISU Inside Athletics is an independently owned and operated online magazine which is editorial in nature. Unless otherwise noted, the opinions expressed in the magazine are those of Inside Athletics and do not represent the official views of Athletics NSW.
it’s been a while coming wait it was worth the It’s been a little longer than intended since our last edition of Inside Athletics, with Dave and I being pretty busy with our respective day jobs. The world of athletics has been pretty busy also, and Australia’s athletes have been right in the thick of the action. Since our last edition we’ve seen monumental global performances like Usain Bolt’s 14.35 second 150m dash through the streets of Manchester, Tyson Gay’s swift 19.58s 200m, Dwight Phillips leap to 8.74m in the long jump and Adriene Friedrich, who is will have the boisterous nationalism of her German home crowd behind her at the world championships, challenge the long standing world record in the women’s high jump. While the focus of most Berliners at upcoming world championships will be the women’s high jump, which will see a tremendous duel between Friedrich and Croatia’s Blaka Vlasic, the men’s long jump is shaping up to be one of the highlights of the championship. Australia will be more than ably represented by Fabrice Lapierre and Mitchell Watt, who have both excelled so far in Europe, with Lapierre’s dynamic flair seeing him leap 8.57m (wind assisted) and 8.35m legal, while Watt’s consistency was rewarded with a windy 8.38m and later a 8.43m legal jump. These are the sorts of distances that win championship medals. Our middle and long distance runners are again punching at their weight after a long period in the wilderness. Despite Craig Mottram’s ongoing injury concerns and Youcef Abdi’s apparent lack of form, athletes like new national 10000m record holder Collis Birmingham and milers Jeff Riseley and Jeremy Roff are re-establishing Australia’s once proud status in the discipline. We feature articles on Birmingham and Roff in this edition, but will wait for Riseley to break a national record before we run one on him – at the rate he is improving, it will be in our next edition! We’ve had an unexpected amount of positive feedback on both the www. insideathletics.com.au website and the event pics that we make available on it. Our initial plans were simply to have the domain as a place to host this magazine, so its popularity has been quite a surprise. We are currently investigating a better way for us to make the high resolution versions of our editorial images available – watch this space. We thank you for your support of the site, as well as this magazine and hope that you enjoy what this issue has to offer.
Willkommen
See you around the tracks!
Tim McGrath
www.insideathletics.com.au editorial enquiries: tim@insideathletics.com.au advertising enquiries: david@insideathletics.com.au
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THE WORLD’S MOST SCENIC MARATHON? moorea international marathon There are few events in places as spectacular as this! If you’ve been looking for an excuse to visit Tahiti, than this is it. The Moorea International Marathon is being held on February 13th 2010 and has three categories Full Marathon, Half Marathon and the 5km Fenua Run. Online registrations open August 1st . For entries visit www.mooreaevents.org/3_GB For information about Tahiti and travel deals visit www.tahitinow.com.au
Image courtesy C Durocher
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AROUND THE TRACKS Moneghetti keeps on keeping on There seems no stopping marathon running legend Steve Moneghetti, who at the age of 46 still is a strong match to athletes half his age. Now one of Athletics Australia’s selectors, the current generation of athletes need to watch their backs to see that Moneghetti isn’t chasing them down. The three most recent spectacular performances from the two-time Commonwealth Games champion and world championships bronze medallist was a 30:06 run at the Sandown Classic, where he was within seconds of rising stars Liam Adams and Duer Yoa, taking out the Victorian 15km title around his local stomping grounds of Lake Wendouree in Ballarat in 46:32 and clocking 30:00 for 10km in Launceston.
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Pejkovic OUR only medallist at World Youth Championships New South Wales’ Amy Pejkovic jumped a personal best of 1.85m to claim the silver medal in the high jump at the recent IAAF World Youth Championships in Bresannone, Italy. The 17 year old improved on her previous best of 1.82m, clearing 1.85m on her first attempt to share the silver medal with Mariya Kuchina of Russia. The gold medal was taken out by Italy’s Alessia Trost with a performance of 1.87m. While Pejkovic’s performance is to be celebrated, the winning of only one medal at the championships by Australia, on the back of the same medal tally at last year’s world junior championships, highlights the increasing standard of youth and junior athletics globally. Prior to the most recent edition of each championship Australia had averaged 5.2 and 4.1 medals per championship respectively.
Three gold at World University Games Australia bagged four gold and a silver at the recent world university games in Belgrade, Serbia. Dani Samuels, Tristan Thomas and Madeleine Pape won gold in their individual events (discus, 400m hurdles and 800m respectively), whilst Thomas collected his second gold of the championships by teaming up with Sean Wroe, Chris Troode and Brendan Cole to win the the 4x400m. In her first international championship, Kaila McNight took silver in the 1500m. For Samuels it was yet another world crown to add to her collection, after having previously won gold at the world youth championships (2005) and world junior championships (2006). Image courtesy of Australian University Sport
4Australia’s world university medalists. Back: Madeleine Pape, John Burstow (ran 4x400m heat), Kaila McNight, Dani Samuels. Middle: Brendan Cole, Sean Wroe, Clay Watkins. Front: Tristan Thomas. Absent: Chris Troode.
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THE BOY FROM BALLARAT
Photos courtesy of Randy Miyazaki
Few men have held the Australian 10000m record over the past half century. In fact, in the modern era, where Australian records have represented the best time run by an Australian anywhere in the world (as opposed to the old system requiring the performance be set in Australia) three names dominate the list: Ron Clarke, Shaun Creighton, and now, Collis Birmingham.
retreat to Falls Creek over the Christmas holidays, it was clear that he was in good form. How good wasn’t to be known until he stepped onto the track. A 13:27.25 5000m at the Graeme Briggs meet in Hobart showed he had the fitness needed. A swift mile of 3:54 and a 1500m of 3:37.03 following that showed he had the speed side of things well and truly covered. Runs of 13:16.26 The 10km record wasn’t really on to win his maiden nationalth 5000m title and then a 29 place my mind until during the race. finish at the world cross country showed he had the strength. All that was needed was the right Great Australian Run 15km race race. in Melbourne – where Birmingham It came at the Brutus Hamilton notably became the first Australian Invitational at the University of since 2001 to beat Mottram over a California, Berkeley. A relatively distance greater than 1500m – it strong field including US collegiate may be that the torch of Australian based Kenyan Sam Chelenga, distance running rests in the hands of Mexico’s Juan Barrios and the United the 24 year old from Ballarat. States’ Anthony Famiglietti were on For those who saw him training hand to greet Birmingham for the 25 at the traditional distance runner’s lap journey.
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That Birmingham now sits atop the national all-time rankings is an achievement not just due to the quality of those who have previously held the honour – Clarke revolutionising the distance world records in the 1960s and Creighton being the most versatile Australian distance runner of the 1990s – but in part because it is something that
Australia’s most recent world class distance runner, Craig Mottram, was never able to achieve. Birmingham has stepped out of the shadows of his illustrious former training partner and into the limelight. With Mottram still attempting to comeback from an achilles injury, which has kept him from competing since last November’s
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“My main goal was just to get the qualifier for world champs so that I’d have the choice of which event I wanted to do,” said Birmingham. “The 10km record wasn’t really on my mind until during the race.” The pace was consistently fast with Birmingham and Chelenga dominating the leading pack. As one by one they fell by the wayside Birmingham went to the lead in an effort to drop Chelenga, but his opponent was strong and counter attacked. With 500m to go Chelenga looked poised for victory with a 10m lead. Birmingham grittily fought back over the next lap, drawing onto Chelenga’s shoulder as the two entered the home straight for the final time. But Birmingham’s exertion over the previous lap caught up with him and Chelenga edged away for a one second victory in 27:28.48. Birmingham’s 27:29.73 took two seconds off Shaun Creighton’s 13 year old national record. Following the race Athletics Australia’s selectors gave Birmingham the option of running either the 10000m or 5000m at the world championships in Berlin. Birmingham was originally guarded about which race he might contest, but has recently suggested that he is leaning towards the shorter of the two. “I want to take a bit of time to think about it and see how I go in a few races in Europe,” he said, but after lowering his personal best to 13:14.53 at the Bislett Games in Oslo offered the following: “I’ll probably do the 5k in Berlin; I’ll get ready for world champs by doing two more races - probably Heusden and London. “I don’t like to say what my goals are time wise but I know that I need to improve the 5k. You have to go under 13:10 to be competitive in a championship. “At the last world championships there were guys like Mo Farah and Tegenkemp who were 13:10 runners then and they were quite competitive - they were fourth and fifth - so until you are running that kind of time I don’t think you’re going to be ultra competitive.” Birmginham has certainly showed that he has the physical attributes to be able to run the time and the tenancity to produce the performance when it will matter most. While he currently has the spotlight of Australian distance running focused on him, Berlin is his opportunity to step up onto the world stage.
27:29.73
ATHLETE E ON TH ! MOVE 4 Birmingham on his way to a new Ausralian 10,000m record.
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JUMPING AHEAD The men’s long jump world record has only been broken once in the last forty years. The leap of Bob Beamon at the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City progressed the event forward by such a rapid margin – a 55 centimetre improvement on the previous world record – that it launched a new word in the english language: Beamonesque. The magesty of ‘King’ Carl Lewis through four golden Olympiads and his epic contest at the 1991 world championships with compatriot Mike Powell, who handed him his first defeat in a decade and captured Beamon’s world record at the same time, maintained the glamour of the event. And then a lull. Maybe that’s too harsh, because athletes were still jumping long distances. In fact, since 2002 there has been at least one athlete per year leaping over 8.50m. But certainly a loss of interest. For an event that was once
mentioned along the 100m, no doubt because of the exploits of Lewis and Jesse Owens preceeding him, it vanished into relative obscurity. Even the most ardent athletics fan would struggle to recite the list of world champions at the event. What has changed this year? Firstly a relatively unknown German, Sebastian Bayer, jumping an incredible 8.71m indoors at the European championships. The jump was so far that the President of the Spanish Athletics Federation thought that an official must have erred in his measurement, although no such evidence was ever found. Then Dwight Phillips. Irving Saladino of Panama had been touted as the man most likely to approach the world record, especially after a huge 8.73m in Hengelo in 2008. But it was Phillips, the 2004 Olympic champion, who launched himself to victory in their head to head encounter at Hayward Field at the Prefontaine Classic, improving his personal best to 8.74m. It was the
longest jump in the world since 1994 and moved him to equal fifth on the all-time list. World record holder Powell is impressed by what he has seen so far this season. “I think 8.74m speaks for itself,” he told Spikesmag.com. “I always said that I was one of the guys who could have broken the world record, and I’m just really blessed that I managed to do it. “I could mention (other names that could have broken the record like) Larry Myricks – I saw him jump ninemetres twice, but with fouls. Ivan Pedroso had the potential to do it and so does Dwight. “There have always been people who could do it. They just have to be in the right meet with the right situation.” The right meet at the right time. It’s a situation that Fabrice Lapierre knows to well. Disappointed with his efforts at the Beijing Olympics, where he jumped two large fouls following an initial leap of 7.90m in the
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4Irving Saladino leapt
4Dwight Phillips was the 2004 Olympic Champion and has a pb of 8.74m
to 8.73m at Hengelo in 2008, spicing the rivalry at the top of the rankings.
thletics 11 athletics qualifying round to miss the final, Lapierre showed his true talent at the World Athletics Final in Stuttgart, where he took victory by a centimetre in 8.14m. “I’ve had plenty of experience jumping against good fields so jumping against those guys whose best are better than mine doesn’t phase me,” said Lapierre before his opening competition of the European season. The confidence is well founded, especially after one of his recent competitions where he leapt to a wind-assisted 8.57m, defeating Saladino for the first time. In the same competition he extended his personal best with a legal jump of 8.35m. Ascedency on the world stage worth celebration. Except it doesn’t stop with him. Lapierre was pushed all the way to win the national title back in March, by a Queenslander who former long jumper turned commentator David Culbert describes as having an ‘agicultural’ style. That is, there is a lot of room for improvement still left in store for 21 year old Mitchell Watt. In Oslo, where Lapierre took victory, Watt’s best legal effort of 8.34m was only a centimetre shorter than Lapierre’s. Before leaving Australia, he had made a name for himself with the consistency he had shown in pre-departure competition, jumping over 8m week in and week out. “Watt demonstrated with his 10.37 second 100m run on the Gold Coast last month that he has the speed, which he’s obviously now learning to control. I think it’s the case of watch this space with him also,” said Culbert, who is optimistic of the pair’s chances in Berlin.
4Fabrice Lapierre combines solid speed and great technique.
“Anyone that saw Lapierre and Watt compete at the national championships this year would realise that these results are not a surprise,” he said. “It wouldn’t be a stretch to suggest that there could still be improvement to come.”
4The rivalry between the two Australian’s will only help to push
them to greater distances. Inset: Mitchell Watt might not be the most graceful jumper, but with so much speed he’s one to watch.
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AUSTRALIA’S HARDEST WORKING MILER
Who would have thought that a middle distance runner that didn’t break two minutes for 800m until he was 17 years old would end up one of Australia’s top 10 fastest 1500m runners of all-time? To say that Jeremy Roff lacked natural talent would be a lie. Talent comes in many forms. Yet it is certainly true that although Roff had some success in his later years of Little Athletics, where his November birthdate was a benefit rather than a hinderance in terms of the age group definitions, there were always athletes who appeared much more naturally gifted than he was. In terms of middle distance running, 1983 was a good vintage, especially within NSW. Throughout the course of his teenage years Roff would have to line up against athletes such as the phenomenally talented world junior finalist Andrew O’Neill, who
held the NSW U18 800m and 1500m records at 1:49.93 and 3:46.34 prior to them being broken by James Kaan and Ryan Gregson; two-time world junior steeplechase representative Luke Taylor; and many others along the way such as former Australian 400m hurdles champion Elliott Wood (1:52 and 4:02 at 16 years of age), Joel Fitzgerald (a national junior 5000m bronze medalist at 16 in a shade over 15 minutes), Tom Richardson, who ran 1:50.1 for 800m at 18, and 4-time Australian 800m champion Nick Bromley, who like Roff, was not a sensational junior and rarely won medals.
Add other ‘83 born runners from interstate of the calibre of Shawn Forrest, Michael Shelley and Clint Perrett and it’s little wonder that at first he found it hard to succeed. Yet, that is perhaps where his real talent shone: in his perservence. “I started out being coached by Anne Saville [mother of racewalking great Jane], who I think did the right thing and nutured me,” said Roff. “I was a late developer and I was only doing about 30km a week until I was 17. I think there are a lot of young kids now who are probably overdoing it and getting injured at young ages.”
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ter 4Roff is a strong suppor son,
of the domestic sea competing regularly during the summer.
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4 The hair might not have been the best move, but he showed great potential in making the ‘06 Commonwealth Games 1500m final.
thletics 13 athletics Results started to improve for Roff as he neared the end of his schooling, taking out the 1500m/2000m steeplechase double in the under 20 age group at the 2001 Australian All Schools in personal best times of 3:58 and 6:06. At the encouragement of Saville, Roff went to Falls Creek a couple of weeks afterwards. It was there that he met NSWs leading distance coach Ken Green, and as they say, the rest is history. Immediately Roff immersed himself on the three staple ingredients of Green’s coaching philosophy: regular long runs, a solid winter base involving cross country racing, and a strict adherence in turning up to the major races of the season, with a premium on championships. Both will tell you that the approach is not unique, but tried and tested over generations of tough Australian distance runners streching back to the 1950s. The results were almost immediate. By the end of the first calendar year under Green’s tutelage Roff had gone from strength to strength, culminating in his last race as a junior where slashed his personal best in the de Castella 3000m at the 2002 Zatopek Classic, clocking 8:14.53 third behind Forrest and to finish
Perrett. By the end of the summer, his first in the senior ranks, he had won the NSW 1500m title and was a national finalists over the same distance. His first national medal came a few year later in 2005 and his first national team the following year in the Commonwealth Games, where he finished 8th in the final that is better remembered for the fall of Craig Mottram than any impact Roff had on the race. “At that stage it was the highlight
of my career so far but it was a bit daunting. I got a bit caught up with it and had stupid coloured hair,” said Roff. “It’s probably one of the worst races I’ve ever run. Tactically it was terrible and Ken gave me a blast afterwards. “I think it is important that I made the final, because that was a good achievement for me, but it was also a big lesson that I couldn’t look up to those guys all the time.”
4 Jeremy can be seen training at Falls Creek every year. The regular training camp he attends is a key to his success.
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4Jeremy with his coach, Ken Green, and training partner Bridey Delaney after the ‘08 NSW 3000m champs The following year Roff wet his feet on the European stage, clocking creditible times but not enough to force his name into contention for the world championships in Osaka. Then, like all athletes who have a sniff at competing on the greatest stage known in sport, Roff dedicated himself to making the Olympic team for Beijing. It wasn’t to be. Many athletes, especially those at the age of 25, where many pundits say that middle distance runners peak, would be shattered by the experience. But not Roff. If anything, his disappointment of not making the Games fueled him on more. Entering the 2008/09 season it was clear that Roff’s weakness was in his leg speed – he had yet to manage to break the 1:50 barrier for 800m. By the end of the season he had remedied that, running 1:48.69 at the Victorian championships, but still the added speed wasn’t enough to get him across the line first at the Sydney Track Classic (4th), the Melbourne leg of the World Athletics Tour (2nd), or national championships, where he was again second to Jeff Riseley. “I was disappointed to have fallen
short for the seventh year in a row, but I don’t think there are many people who have ever finished second at nationals in 3:37, so I took a lot away from that,” said Roff of his performance at the nationals, where he clocked his second B-qualifer of the domestic season. “I couldn’t do anything more. The fact that Jeff got the A-qualifer probably helped me get in the team in the end.” In fact, selection for the world championships was one of the last things that Roff expected. He had already made tentative plans to go to Europe to chase the A-standard that he thought would be required for him to be selected. “When I was picked in the world championships I made it my first goal I to run an A-qualifier before the championships to prove to myself and everyone else that I deserved to be picked,” said Roff. Of course he did that, and much more, in the first race of his European campaign. Lining up against a world class field at Berlin’s ISTAF meet – the opening leg of the IAAF Golden League – Roff catapulted his way to sixth on the Australian all-time list
with a run of 3:34.39. “There was such a huge crowd and it was such a fast race,” said Roff. “I tried to get out of the mentality that the first race was just an opener. I knew it would be embarrassing if I didn’t run up to my best, so I thought I would just have to step up.” Step up he did, and past a number of Australia’s past 1500m runners; the run moved him from 22nd on the Australian all-time list to 6th. It also earnt him the NSW record and Randwick-Botany Harriers club record – both which were held by Youcef Abdi through his dual clockings of 3:36.35 in 2002 and 2003. Top 10 Aussies all-time NB: Jeff Riseley recently ran 3:32.93. 1 Simon Doyle 2 Jeff Riseley 3 Michael Hillardt 4 Mark Fountain 5 Craig Mottram 6 Graham Crouch 7 Jeremy Roff 8 Pat Scammell 9 Herb Elliott 10 Peter Bourke
3:31.96 3:32.93 3:33.39 3:33.68 3:33.97 3:34.22 3:34.35 3:34.61 3:35.6 h 3:36.17
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FAST TRACK to the Top
Few athletes with a performance which place them in the top ten Australians all time for their event would describe their performance as average. But up and coming sprinter Melissa Breen, isn’t happy to rest on her laurels. The 19 year old from Canberra clocked a fast 11.33 seconds in November last year, the fastest by an Australian in 2008. It was a B-qualifier and ultimately gave the Australian selectors the ability to use their discretion to provide the obvious talent that Breen possesses the opportunity to compete against the best athletes on the globe at the world championship in Berlin. As one of only two members of last year’s world junior team to make the transition to the senior squad this year - the other is racewalker Jessica Rothwell – just making the team is an achievement in itself. Yet Breen wants to be more than just a participant: she wants to be world
4Melissa Breen in action at the 2009 Stawell Gift.
class. “That PB run of 11.33 was not anything special, I got lucky with the wind but it was not warm and I didn’t have a lot of competition. I ran so well because I was relaxed, I was happy and things just fell into place,” said Breen. The run came after her intenational debutat the world junior championships, where she was a semi-finalist. Missing a place in the final by two spots has driven Breen since. “It was devastating to watch that final, knowing that I had done all the work to be there. I was emotional to say the least, but I held on to that, it has now motivated me to make my first
senior team in the 100m and I am so excited to race in Berlin. “I hope to achieve an experience that leaves me wanting more, living and breathing athletics in Europe is something I have never experience so I just want to live it up, race with the best in the world and let my legs do what they do best, go fast.” Breen recently had another taste of international competition at the world university games, where she progressed through to the final, finishing eighth. The hard training in the cool winter climate of Canberra in the lead up certainly improved her mental resolve. “Matt [Beckenham, coach] and I have
4After second place in the 100m behind Sally McLellan, Breen won her maiden national title in the 200m.
thletics 17 athletics been working on my entire race, the start, pushing out of the blocks, being aggressive, hitting top speed and becoming an efficient runner, not wasting anything, in a 100m everything has to work, it’s over so quickly,” she said. “We have also been working on longer stuff, for my 200m. Before I left I broke 40sec for the first time for a 300m, terrible cold conditions in Canberra, but it was awesome. I am getting fitter, but I will always be a speed machine!” So, what lies in store for Breen in Berlin? A bevy of brilliant sprinters from Jamaica and the United States dominate this year’s world rankings; it’s not inconceivable that seven of the eight places in the final could be claimed between the two nations. “My expectations are to get through the first round, so I have two runs over there,” said Breen. “I’ll run like every race is my last and who knows what could happen.”
4Melissa Breen has worked hard on every facet of her sprinting since the 2008 world juniors.
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mind over matter When Australian pole vaulter Steve Hooker first set foot inside Beijing’s Birds Nest Stadium, he was met with a strange sense of déjà vu. In fact, the Olympic gold medallist had been familiarising himself with the image of the iconic arena for months in advance by setting it as his computer’s screen saver. The technique known as visualisation, and it has become an essential tool of the trade for all track and field athletes performing at the elite level. Words by madeline pape What is it? Visualisation in sport harnesses the power of the mind to influence an event in the future unfolding in a certain way. Dr Steven Bannon from the Victorian Institute of Sport explains: “Visualisation is really the use of
imagery to imagine that you’re at an event, that you’re performing well, and that you’re achieving your goals. If you do it well the mind doesn’t distinguish between what is real and what is imagined.” It is a skill that when mastered acts as a significant competitive advantage for athletes. It also reinforces the power of positive thinking, as Hooker’s experience in Beijing demonstrates. “Standing at the end of the runway before my final attempt at 5.90 I really wasn’t that nervous, because I felt like I’d already done it a thousand times before,” Hooker said. The result? A clearance, an epic victory over Russian Evgeny Lukyanenko, and a new Olympic record of 5.96 metres. Visualisation is particularly useful in closed-skill sports, like pole vault, where conditions are largely predictable and athletes aren’t reacting to the competitors around them. Gymnastics, diving and other field events are prime examples
of sports that use visualisation as a key aspect of their performance. But visualisation can also assist in developing effective race plans for track athletes, rowers and swimmers. DIY Visualisation Even though the term visualisation implies the use of imagery only, the
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thletics 19 athletics skill is at its most powerful if each of the five senses can be incorporated. Building a complete picture helps to trick the mind that the situation is really happening. So add as many elements as possible, such as the scent of the rubber track and the roar of the crowd as well as the potential weather conditions. Dr Bannon advises athletes to practice the process by starting with something simple. “We sometimes start training athletes for visualisation using a lemon or an orange. We get them to feel the fruit, cut it and smell it, taste it to make sure they’re using all of their senses, and then close their eyes and imagine the elements of the fruit in their mind.” One point to note is that the athlete can choose to visualise their performance from two different angles. The first is to take an external view, where the athlete pictures the situation as though they are watching themselves through a video camera. This is how most athletes start out. “At this point it’s like footage on a DVD player,” says Bannon. “You can actually speed it up or slow it down, and you can rewind it to go back and look again.” The next step is more challenging, and involves imagining the same scenario from an internal angle or from the athlete’s own eyes. Taking this view gives the athlete better access to the feelings, emotions and other sensations associated with their imagined performance. For Hooker, both methods of visualisation have a role to play in picturing the perfect jump. “The way we analyse our jump is directly from side-on at the point of take-off, so I would visualise my technique from this perspective. I’ll also go first-person perspective but that’s less technical and more about emotion and what it would feel like to be in that situation.” Hooker adds that it is also important to focus only on the immediate job at hand, and not let your mind get distracted by all of the potential repercussions associated with your
performance. “Even during a competition I’d think about what the consequences were of clearing or missing a bar,” says Hooker, “If that’s what you’re thinking about when you’re standing on the runway then you’re head’s not really in the right place to get the job done.” So block out any thoughts of prizemoney, team selection, media questioning and justification to family and friends! “If you’re focusing on what you’re supposed to be doing then everything after that will take care of itself,” says Hooker of his approach.
the mind goes hand in hand with training the body to be at its peak when it really counts. Don’t be afraid to imagine the impossible, because it might just be the first step towards making it happen...
Injury = mind over matter No athlete enjoys the tedious experience of rehabilitating an injury. But the use of visualisation during this period of physical shut-down can have very real benefits. Athletes might need to use visualisation in order to regain their confidence and remove any fear of re-injuring themselves. But scientific research has also shown that athletes who use visualisation while they are injured can actually keep the motor patterns of their muscles firing, even though they aren’t physically doing the activity. This means that training doesn’t have to come to a complete halt! “The motor patterns in the body stay active even though it’s at a lower amplitude, so the body actually retains muscle memory,” explains Dr Bannon. Hooker’s injury experience supports this argument. He finds that his jumping always improves after taking time off for injury. “I think that it’s because in my head I’m doing perfect jumps, which erases any bad habits that I might have developed,” he says. “Going over it in your mind really does teach your body something.” So it’s no wonder that more and more athletes are turning to visualisation as a means of achieving their best performance. Harnessing
Handle with care Tapping into the power of the mind can unleash a whole new level of performance. But if done incorrectly, visualisation also has the potential to lead to trouble. Athletes at the Victorian Institute of Sport are encouraged to access expert guidance, but Doctor Bannon sees no reason why recreational athletes can’t try it at home if they keep the following advice in mind: - Involve your coach. Make sure that you are visualising the right things and not reinforcing bad habits. - Don’t fall in to the trap of imagining worst case scenarios. It’s not uncommon for athletes starting out in visualisation to see themselves failing. Only allow your mind to visualise success. - Make it real by getting out a pen and paper. Don’t leave it at the back of your mind. Make a script and make sure each of the elements that you need to visualise in order to achieve your goal has been included. Then commit to it!
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IT’S A MUD, MUD WORLD
TRAINING & RACING IN THE ENGLISH WINTER By Russell Dessaix-Chin So, why travel 10,000 miles across the world to run in a land of cold, wet, muddy and (seemingly) perpetual darkness? Well, for this intrepid athlete, it was all those reasons mentioned above that I made the journey. Do we ever get conditions like those in Australia? Not all at once, that’s for sure. At the very least, training and racing in these conditions gives one the opportunity to really appreciate the clement weather that our bright and sunny homeland dishes out. With recent debate raging about the benefits of a strong cross country season before hitting the track at the back of my mind, I set my plans for an English winter campaign. I started saving as much money as possible from working as a schoolteacher and then scored some sponsorship from a local business. Once in England, I would also do some teaching to keep financial, as well as to balance out the intensity of training and racing. One of the best things to do when heading overseas is to hook up with an athletics club. They are vital in
4My first run in the snow.
that they are connected to the local scene and provide a support base to an athlete in a foreign land. Upon the advice of Marty Dent, I got in contact with a club called Belgrave Harriers, who are based in Wimbledon. This worked out well, as I would live in the Wimbledon area for the eight or so months I would be in England. It turned out that Belgrave are one of the strongest athletics clubs in the country, so that was a bonus. With that knowledge I set off to the land of big red buses and small grey squirrels. Setting up Living in London as an athlete really isn’t that expensive. If you can afford the time, be a little patient and discerning when searching for good digs, as quality and economical accommodation can be found. I used a variety of rental websites, but the best results came from gumtree.com. I purposely avoided any ads that mentioned any of the “Antipodean” tribes – i.e. Australians, Kiwis and South Africans, as I knew the likelihood of non-athletic disposed distractions would be high. After a bit of searching I found a neat little room in a 3 bedroom flat with a professional couple and a uni student. Actually, I think I was in the living room, but it was definitely all I needed for my running base. Clean, comfortable, and within easy reach of training…I could look out my window and see the trees of the common just over the rooftops. And by strange coincidence, I was next door to where I had stayed in 2007 with Jeremy Roff, Brad Woods, Emma Rilen and coach Ken Green. So I already had local knowledge on training.
4Midway through the Antrim
International XC. Note the double singlet configuration.
Training The south-western part of London is quite possibly the best area in the city for training. Nic Bideau’s group has a house in the same region, albeit a bit further south of Wimbledon. The suburb of Southfields lies adjacent to the expansive Wimbledon Common, which connects to the even more expansive Richmond Park. The combination of these two leads to miles and miles of trails to run upon. The Common varies in terrain between large grassy fields and dark entangled woods, whereas Richmond is a well kept and open park, with many smooth trails criss-crossing its undulating acreage. One of the best runs is a 12km loop around the
athletics thletics 21 circumference of Richmond Park, where there is a good opportunity to spot the herds of deer that roam freely throughout the grounds. One of the most impressive things about most of the UK, and indeed Europe, is the ubiquitousness of athletic tracks. A quick scan of the city using Google Earth and you can see the proliferation of familiar reddish coloured loops around the suburbs. In Wimbledon there was a fine, tree-lined tartan track only 10 minutes jog from my flat, and this was extremely convenient as I planned on continuing with trackwork over the winter. Probably the only issue with training was a lack of running partners. There are loads of talented distance athletes spread through out London – but this was the problem, they were all too spread out. But, to be honest, I rather enjoyed training on my own over here. Plenty of time for self-talk and introspection! On the odd occasion I would meet up with someone, such as Phil Sly (Aussie Marathoner) for a long run or easy jog, but most of the time I was flying solo.
Weather and conditions Growing up as an avid reader of English literature, I developed an idea of winter in London as a snowy wonderland with ice skating on the Thames and icing sugared pine trees. As I became older and widened my reading scope, as well as watching the odd movie, this idea was replaced with that of an England as a land of fog, damp and endless weeks of cold greyness. The snowy fantasies of the past all but melted in the grim clutches of encroaching global warming. So I set off to the UK with a mind steeled for brain-numbing cold and damp. But, to my delight, this scenario never eventuated, as England suffered (and I rejoiced in) one of its coldest winters in 20 years. It started late October with a snowfall that was close to the earliest on record. Then there were further falls of snow each month until the 3rd February, when the heaviest snowfall London had seen in decades effectively shut down the city. It was a “snow day” of unimaginable beauty. I was of
4Leading the famous Bushy
Park 5km Time Trial. A good low-key hit out over a flat cross country course. Craig Mottram holds the record at about 14:10.
course, at this point, living my dream to the utmost – I was an athlete living and training overseas in a snowbound city. Apart from the snowfalls, the winter was quite dry, and the muddy tracks I had anticipated were never an issue. It was definitely quite an experience for this Aussie athlete though, training in sub-zero temperatures day in, day out. Even ground that had
4The ferocious start of the 4The state of my spikes, post Liverpool. It had been slightly muddy.
National. A muddy sprint for 200m followed by a sharp, long hill. All within the first 500m.
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4The start of Antrim International XC, N. Ireland. Boniface Kiprop is in No. 1. been muddy soon became frozen with perma-frost, which had its good and bad points in that the ground was no longer soft, but had become ankle-snappingly treacherous in parts. There were few cloudy and grey
times during the winter months, with mostly frosty and bright days. I soon got used to running in long tights and long sleeve shirts every day, a world apart from the usual semi-naked get-up of shorts and shoes I was accustomed to back home. Probably the toughest aspect of an English winter is the short days. At its worst, the sun is coming up just after 8am, and dipping below the horizon just before 4pm. Especially when working, it’s hard to get used to, stepping out for a morning run in the dark, and then doing the afternoon session…in the dark. It meant that there was also minimal recovery at times when you did do two sessions a day and wanted to do them in the daylight (when the temperature was 3-4 degrees instead of -1). All in all I was extremely lucky to have experienced what can only be described as a once in a lifetime “right proper” English winter!
out, I didn’t even have to leave the shores of Great Britain to race the best in the world. There are so many races of all levels going on constantly. You can find low-key club races for a quiet hit-out, more competitive regional events, or for the experience of toeing the line with Ternesay Tadesse, there are several international level IAAF certified races held in the UK as well. The main reason I didn’t race so much in Europe was because I got involved in the McCain Cross Challenge. The standard of athletes at these races was excellent, and showcased the depth and strength of British cross country running. It certainly came as a levelling shock for me, after I’d won a couple of regional races as well as the British 10k Road Championships early in my time here, and thought I was hot stuff. The Cross Challenge series was held in Gateshead (Newcastle), Liverpool, Antrim (Northern Ireland), and Nottingham. Each of these races confronted me with varying weather conditions, from sun and wind in Newcastle to freezing fog in Liverpool - but there was always the mud. Sometimes it would be sticky mud, like bread dough, and other times there was ankle or shin deep baby food style. Either way, I tended to struggle on muddy sections. In
Racing
4My street after THAT snowfall. Early February 2009.
The racing scene in the UK is amazing. I had initially planned to get all over Europe during the season, chasing quality cross country competition. As it turned
4One of the very steep climbs
on the challenging Gateshead Course.
thletics 23 athletics Antrim there was a 400m stretch of slop to contend with every lap (there were five of those), and I lost several places every time we crossed it. But that was why I was there, to get strong on the tough stuff. Speaking of hard things to contend with, let’s talk about opposition. In Newcastle the winner was a Dutch champion, Michael Butter, whilst in Antrim I came up against the Commonwealth 10,000m champion Boniface Kiprop. And at every race there were always three or four Eritreans running – they had stayed in the UK after the 2008 World Cross Country and were now running for a Scottish club. Not to mention the many GB representatives who were building momentum for their tilt at a team spot for the 2009 WXC in Jordan. One of the more memorable races was the Edinburgh Great Winter Run, a cross country held on the same course as the previous year’s WXC. The Great Run crew assembled an amazing field, with Kiprop, Augustine Choge and Zernesay Tadesse, just to name a few, rounding out the top end of the field. Both myself and (top Aussie
steeplechaser) Pete Nowill, were a little awestruck with the company we were keeping. In ridiculously tough conditions of almost gale force wind and intermittent rain, both Pete and I were lucky to battle ourselves into the top thirty of the race. The ultimate race on the UK cross country calendar is spoken about in hushed, reverent tones within the running community, and it is simply known as “The National”. In Australia, I believe we call it the Australian Cross Country Championships. This race is possibly the biggest cross country race in the world, participation-wise, with over 1500 taking part in the open men’s race alone – compare this to the 60-70 that compete in the Australian version. In 2009 the race was held at the “spiritual home” of English Cross Country, Parliament Hill, in the Northwest of London. As this suburb was relatively close to my home, I was able to head out there a couple of times and do sessions on the course, once training in the middle of a veritable blizzard. The park was not flat by any means, and the recent snow meant that the course would be very muddy. I had
4Conditions were a touch
misty for the Liverpool Cross Challenge. And nippy too, at between 0˚C and 1˚C the whole day.
reason to be confident though when lining up for this race, having won a cross country in Cardiff a month earlier on a muddy course. But this confidence quickly dissolved as the race got under way. Not even a kilometre into the race there was shin deep quagmire to contend with. Then at the back of the course was a reasonably long section of hard rocky trail, which proved difficult to handle in 12 mm spikes. In a moment of
4A spectacular sight, as 1500+ runners wind their way around the initial kms of the course. This photo only shows a section of the “National Snake”!
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4Just outside my appartment. brain exploding panic I removed my shoes…and, well that was the end of my race. 10km of cross country in bare feet is no way to win a national championship. Such is the quality of the race that within seconds I was out of the top 20 and in the top 100...top 150…top 200. In the end I was 186th, which, upon looking back, wasn’t too bad a result considering the fact I had run the race with no shoes. It took some effort to recover mentally from the catastrophe of the National, and I had to do it quick as I was off to Portugal the following
weekend for my third international race. It was the rather prettily named “Almond Blossom Cross Country”. Here I was exposed to the amazing hospitality athletes can expect from events in Europe, with paid for accommodation in the race hotel for the weekend and transfers to and from the airport. Strangely enough, the race had only one Kenyan in it – who won – but the lack of African presence was amply made up for by a strong European contingent, including top runners from France, Russia, Spain, and of course Portugal. Two of Brazil’s top runners were also in the race. In vastly different conditions of a firm track and warm sunshine I ran, arguably, the best race of the winter to finish 6th. As I write, the days are once more becoming longer and midday temperatures are soaring to the mid-teens. The once bare-branched woods have become bright green and the squirrels have gone quite crazy. And as much as I enjoyed the harsh winter just gone, there is definitely something invigorating about the energy that is an English springtime.
4Hill training at Wembley in London’s north, with full kit on: gloves, beanie, tights and long sleeve – and this was with the sun out
4The labyrinth at Gateshead The best thing is that I now am looking forward to the track season more than I have ever done before. The thought of pulling on spikes and bouncing my way across a firm, dead-flat, rubbery surface fills me with much anticipation. As I know that my legs, full of strength from the unstable and treacle-like cross country courses I have (sometimes) conquered, will take every opportunity to fly across the tartan…
4 Nothing to do but get hold of a shovel & get to work!
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STAWELL GIFT BLAKE
4 Former Stawell local Philo
4Competitors in the heats of the 200m, including Brendan Cole (red) and Saunders took out the Herb
Hederman invitational 1600m.
Tristan Thomas (white) It seems a while ago now, but this year’s Stawell Gift certainly lived up to its reputation of action, controversy and uncovering new talents. Most of Australia’s top sprinters, including national champions Aaron Rouge-Serrett, Sean Wroe, Tristan Thomas, Melissa Breen and Tamsyn Lewis made the trek to the Victorian highlands for the prestigious footrace, but only 200m runner Matt Davies had what it took to make the final of the men’s Gift, whilst Lewis was second in the women’s Gift behind Trisha Greaves. Prior to the heats of the premier event, the Australia Post Stawell Gift, a flood of money was bet on NSWs Chris Hickey, who was set to run off 7.5 metres. While such an event is not uncommon, the handicapper, noticing his odds had rocketed from $41 to being a $3.80 favourite, delved a little deeper into Hickey’s past and noticed that performances from four years prior were not properly declared, giving the authority to redetermine his handicap. In the end, even had Hickey retained the 1.5m that the handicapper pulled him back, it may not have made any
difference, with the 22 year old from Tenterfield failing to progress out of the heats. Eventual Gift winner Aaron Stubbs had no problems with the information he provided to the handicapper. The problem for the handicapper was how to quantify it. Stubbs had taken the rather untraditional path of evading the handicapper’s eye, not by not racing, but by doing so on sand. The 18 year old from Lismore had won the open and under 19 beach sprinting title at the Australian Surf Lifesaving championships in Perth just three weeks prior. Stubbs’ story was even more unique in that he won wearing a pair of spikes given to him in 2003 by idol Matt Shirvington. “Shrivington was always the person I looked up to when I was young. I’m really glad I pestered him [for the spikes]. “I had never put them on before. Last week, I saw them in the cupboard and just thought I’d try them and see if they made a bit of a difference. They did.” Since cashing his $40,000 winners cheque Stubbs has run a few
standard races on the Gold Coast – with neither sand nor handicaps – and shown that he has promise in the coming years, recording 10.73s and 21.67s. However, not to be too conventional, Stubbs recently took to Grafton racecourse, racing mare Ramornie Run over 200m. With a 112 metre handicap, With an 85 metre handicap, Stubbs won by three lengths.
4Trisha Greaves took out the women’s Gift from Tamsyn Lewis.
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COASTING TO GOLD!
Not only is the Gold Coast Marathon Australia’s premier marathon, both in terms of the number of competitors and the swiftness of the winning times, but it is also plays host to Australia’s best half marathon and an increasingly popular 10km race. A record 3708 finished the full distance, with another 6949 in the half marathon and 5268 in the 10km. The race is not only a tourism drawcard for Queensland, with over 1200 competitors from Japan and over 4000 interstate competitors from NSW alone, but an important part of the domestic road racing scene. The event with the most depth was the men’s half marathon, which saw a desperate sprint to the line from Tanzania’s Dickson Marwa to claim victory just a second ahead of reigning champion Michael Shelley. Shelley, in only his third half marathon, improved his personal best to 62:10. “I felt pretty good the whole race. I was just trying to make it a hard race the whole way. I thought I was pretty fit, but I didn’t know how fit, so I just thought I’d go out there and have a crack,” said Shelley following the
race. “There was no time on the lead car so I didn’t really know how fast I was going. I got a 10km split from Marty [Dent] and it was 29:45 or something like that. “On the way home we must have hit a bit of a tailwind, because we moved along pretty quickly on the way home.” Despite his success on the roads over the half marathon distance, Shelley sees his immediate future as being on the track. “We don’t know about the qualifying for the Commonwealth Games yet it depends a little bit on the whether the selection trial is at Zatopek [December ‘09] or in Perth [April ‘10],” said Shelley on whether he will seek selection for the world half marathon championships, in which he finished 16th last year. “My target at the moment is the 10km, but maybe I’ll run a marathon if things don’t go to plan with the 10km, depending when the trial is.” Behind Shelley, Martin Dent demonstrated more than sufficient form to prove his fitness for the marathon at the world
4Not even Superman was a match for Lee Troop, who won the 10km in 29:28 and then paced the 2:24 marathon group for 25km.
4 Jeff Hunt clocked a fast
1:02:44 on debut at the half marathon to finish fourth.
championships, finishing third in a personal best of 62:16. The women’s race saw a confidence boosting run by Lisa-Jane Weightman, slashed her personal best to 70:42 to move into sixth on the Australian all-time list. “I knew I was in good shape so I really wanted to prove on race day that it was going to happen,” she said. “I’ll have a light week to recover from the race. I’ve had a lot of stress fractures in my career, so I’m pretty conservative about the rest.” “I want to go under 2:30 for the marathon, so I’m going to give it a crack this time and take a few risks,” she said of the marathon in Berlin. “In Beijing I was told to go out pretty conservatively, did that and had a bit left in the tank at the end. This time I plan to go out as hard as I can sustain for the first half and see what happens in the second half.” The men’s and women’s marathon
thletics 27 athletics races couldn’t have exhibited more contrasting finishes. The men’s race saw a runaway victory to Kenyan debutant William Chebor, whilst the women’s race was a sprint finish to the line between Lauren Shelley and Roxie Schmidt. Chebor totally outclassed the rest of the field, taking victory but over four minutes in a good time of 2:11:58. Chebor has started a number of marathons in the past, but always with the intention of pacing the events, which can be financially lucrative. Behind Chebor was Shane Nankervis, who clocked a solid 2:16:46. “He’s run a 60 minute half marathon, so he’s got a good pedigree. He could go through in 65-66 minutes through halfway like we did and be five minutes off his half marathon pace,” said Nankervis on Chebor. In fact, it was a couple of kilometres after the halfway mark that Chebor pulled away from the rest of the field for victory. “I thought that I could run under 2:15, but getting stuck there by myself for the last 5km or so, I dropped a lot of time. It didn’t work out, but I wasn’t really after a time, I was after a win. “I couldn’t get a win, but I’m still happy to be second to a quality athelte.” The women’s race was a much closer affair, with a large lead held by Lauren Shelley being whittled down in the final kilometres by Roxie Schmidt. In the end, Shelley was able to respond down the home
4William Chebon from Kenya
scored a runaway win on debut at the marathon.
4Dickson Marwa gains the upperhand on Michael Shelley in the home straight of the half marathon. straight when Schmidt caught to record the narrowest of victories: both competitors were timed at 2:42:22. “I think Roxie ran a pretty even race. I died a bit over the second half so she would have been gaining on me a lot in the last 10km,” said Shelley, who represented Australia at the 2006 Commonwealth Games. “When somebody is running you down they can see where you are but you can’t see where they are, so its always tough. “I didn’t really know how far ahead of Roxie I was until the turn [at around 36km] and even then I didn’t really know how much I had.” For Schmidt, the race marked a large improvement on her previous
best performance. “I did a massive PB so I’m really happy. I did the second half of the race about 2 minutes faster than the first. That was my plan – I just wanted to go out slowly and see what I could do in the last half of the race,” said Schmidt. Schmidt had concentrated on racewalking during her school years before making the transition to distance running a few years ago. “My first marathon was last year in May when I did the Brisbane Marathon. Then I did the Gold Coast and I won a trip over to Japan and ran the marathon there in February and came first in 2:47, so this is a massive PB. “I want to go under 2:40 one day.”
4 Lisa-Jane Weightman flanked by second and third placegetters
Cassie Fien and Shireen Crumpton after winning the Gold Coast half marathon
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10K
WHAT’S OUR BEST ROAD RACE? There are a number of good road races in Australia and its not surprising that many of them are held over the popular 10km distance. Whilst many major runs are owned and operated by large media organisations, the Sandown Classic in Victoria and the cumbersomely named Athletics NSW/Sydney Striders Road Race are the two major road races owned and operated by the athletics community. Tim McGrath reviews this year’s events and takes a look at their future.
They say that imitation is the most sincere form of flattery. So when two years ago Athletics NSW decided to revamp its road championships, which had struggled with a permanent venue and with its status, it’s little wonder that their goal was to emulate the approach Athletics Victoria had taken with their highly successful Sandown Classic. They did so in partnership with Australia’s largest recreational running club, Sydney Striders, to put on an event within the parameters that NSW distance runners had been hoping for for years: an accurate, flat and fast course. As there’s always been rivalry
between Victorian and NSW distance runners (often, it must be said, with the Victorian’s having the upper hand) the likely question from athletes from those two states is ‘which race is better?’ A good place to start is a recap of the elite end of this year’s races. ATHLETICS NSW/SYDNEY STRIDERS ROAD RACE 2 May, 2009 World championships marathon representative Scott Westcott was easy winner of the NSW title, running away from ACTs Anthony Haber for a 43 second victory in 29:54.
4Sandown draws big fields and a strong showing from the elite distance runners. In future years maybe the ANSW event will have as much strength and therefore bring faster times.
thletics 29 athletics Westcott’s time was slower than last year’s winner, Russell DessaixChin, who holds the course record at 29:45. So is the course slow? One wouldn’t think so when looking at the design of the 5km loop and the general topography of the area, but both year’s winners have commented that the course is deceptive. “It’s a good course. It’s got a few little tricky bits, some false flats, which hurt me a bit over the second lap,” Dessaix-Chin told Athletics NSW after his win, whilst Westcott commented that he had not been able to determine his pace as accurately as he would have hoped. “I thought I had run about 14:30 – maybe its just the nature of the course or maybe I’m not as fit as I thought I was,” he said in relation to his halfway split of 14:47. The other explanation is that due to the margin of their victories – Dessaix-Chin had a 32 second buffer on Ryan Gregson last year – that the isolation and not the course is the factor that was at play.
4Scott Westcott comfortably won the NSW event ahead of Canberra’s Anthony Haber.
SANDOWN CLASSIC 30 May, 2009 A run up the home straight and then three circuits of the car racing track at Sandown provided the setting for an interesting race, with world championships marathon representative Mark Tucker sprinting away from former national cross country champion Jeff Hunt in the final kilometre for a 13 second win in 29:25. Compared to Sydney Olympic Park, Sandown, although relatively flat, has a more distinct undulation in the course and is notoriously windy. Despite that, and an unfortunate mismeasurement of the course last year, which saw it 98m short of the advertised distance, it has time after time produced fast performances. DRAWING COMPARISONS It is an almost unavoidable topic in
4Tara Palm (right) raced most of the Sandown Classic with Cassie Fien (right) before pulling away for second place in 33:08 to 33:14.
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exploring the nature of each event, that there may be differences in the distance running populations in the two states. Are Victorians simply better distance runners than those in New South Wales? Leaving aside discussion about the very elite end of distance running in each state, where arguably a Victorian title is valued more highly by Victorians than the value that some elite NSW distance runners place on NSW titles, it is very clear that there is much more depth within Victorian distance running at a sub-elite level. Even if we were to assume that Sandown course is quicker than Sydney Olympic Park, the course alone cannot explain the differences. Why, for example, were there 109 athletes under 34 minutes at Sandown but only 50 at the Athletics NSW/Sydney Striders race? A simple explanation would be that Victorians are better distance runners than New South Welshman. But given that there are no inherent genetic, psychological or motivational differences between the athlete popultation, and ruling out the mildly cooler Victorian climate as having much signficance, we have to put it down to culture. Which, in the context
of each state’s road championships, thursts forward the following chicken and egg type question: is the event strong because of the depth of the athletes, or is there depth of the athletes a result of strong events? A look at two other events – one relatively young, with the other very well established – might shed some light on the answer. The Launceston 10, as the name might suggest, is a 10km race in the northern Tasmanian city of Launceston. This year will be its third running. A look at the results from last year shows a lot of promise at the pointy end, so much so that an unaware observer might ask why this article isn’t about the strength of Tasmanian distance running. The clear answer of course is of the top 25 places, only 3 were inhabitants of the Apple Isle. What would prompt 22 relatively good distance runners to travel, to all places, to Launceston? A look at the initial year’s results shows a fast 28:37 winning time from Mark Tucker, with two others under 29 minutes and a few under 31 minutes. Word got out that the course was fast, and the generous $4000 first prize wooed a few more elite the next year, along
with a other keen runners knowing that with a fast pace and a decent course that they would have a good chance for a PB. The other race is Sydney’s City to Surf. For most of the over 70,000 participants the City to Surf more of a cultural event than a race, but for a small portion of the field, an opportunity to test themselves annually in a race with great depth. But why its popularity? It’s an odd distance, advertised at 14km, but never claimed to be certified. It’s a net downhill from start to finish, but with a big hill in the middle. Running a certain time on the course will tell you but one thing: what you can run for the City to Surf. Maybe elite runners would put all of that aside if they were chasing the big prizemoney of the event... but there is none. Sure, the media exposure and an airfare to another road race overseas aren’t anything to sneeze at, but they don’t directly pay the bills either. Yet thankfully road races don’t live in that sort of vacuum. One of the main reason top runners contest the City to Surf is because its part of the culture of distance running in this country. Greats like de Castella, Ondieki and
thletics 31 athletics Moneghetti have won the race before them and the recognition for the top placegetters from their running peers – both within and external to the formal athletics community – is far greater than events of similar depth. One may ask what any of this tells us about Sandown or the Athletics NSW/Sydney Striders road races? Well, firstly that culture is important, and secondly, for new events that some prize money isn’t a bad way to build a reputation. In Victoria’s case, they have the advantage of both. A long line of distance greats from Clarke to de Castella to Moneghetti to Mottram. In fact, 50% of the men who have represented Australia in the past 20 years at the Olympic, world championships or Commonwealth Games in events from 3000m steeplechase to the marathon have been Victorian. Add to that the willingness of Athletics Victoria to invest in the profile of their event by introducing prize money and by funding interstate athletes to attend and they have an event that no local athlete would dare miss. The Athletics NSW race, albeit earlier in its infancy than Sandown,
has some way to go at its elite end. There simply isn’t the same culture in distance running; for some of the state’s top athletes competing in state championships is a rarity compared to being a integral part of their disposition. The race hasn’t of yet had prize money, the introduction of which may lure some of the state’s cash hungry competitors back to the event. Of course, at the non-elite level, competition is healthy and growing. In fact, it is not unforeseeable that the event will outgrow its current start/finish area within the next few years, forcing the race to commence at its widest point outside the Olympic stadium (if the option is logistically and financially possible) or alternatively be split into two divisions. Ultimately, whether Sandown is a better race than the Athletics NSW one, or whether Victorians are better distance runners than New South Welshman is beside the point: distance running can only gain by having two professionally run events open to the public which are owned and managed by the athletics community,
MARK TUCKER - POST SANDOWN VICTORY Inside Athletics: Are you happy with your performance today? Mark Tucker: Yes, I am because I didn’t know how I was going to go backing up from a half two weeks ago[Tucker was 3rd in the Sydney Morning Herald Half Marathon in 65:09] so I thought I’d see how I go and just go for the win. It was quite windy so, I got what I wanted basically. IA: So, did the wind play a big influence on how the race panned out? MT: It did. We were all looking at each other a bit and people were a bit reluctant to lead. I had a great cover, and I must admit I didn’t have to do much work, so that really helped, but it did slow down times. IA: At what point did you pull away from Jeff Hunt? MT: It was just me and Jeff when we got into the main straight. I think maybe a quarter of the way up the straight - maybe 800m to go - I pulled away then. IA: Where does a race like this fit in with your preparations for the marathon at the world championships?
4The pointy end of the field at Sandown always is a who’s who of Australian distance running.
MT: It’s a quarter of the race distance, so it’s really good speed work for the marathon. I’ve got a couple more 10k’s and that will probably be it. It’s mostly training from here on but it fits in quite well as speedwork.
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CALENDAR
July
24-25 London Grand Prix (London, GBR) 28
Herculis Meet (Monaco, MON)
31 DN Galan (Stockholm, SWE)
Getty Images
August
1 Geelong Cross Country (Geelong, VIC)
8 Sandown Road Relays (Melbourne, VIC) 9
City to Surf (Sydney, NSW)
15-23 IAAF World Championships (Berlin, GER) 28
Weltklasse (Zurich, SUI)
29 Australian Cross Country Champs (Nowra, NSW) 31
Zagreb 2009 (Zagreb, CRO)
31
British Grand Prix (Gateshead, GBR)
September Getty Images
4
Memorial Van Damme (Brussels, BEL)
6 Rieti (Reiti, ITA)
12-13 World Athletics Final (Thessaloniki, GRE) 19 Tan Relays (Melbourne, VIC)
19 Great North ‘City Games’ (Newc Upon Tyne, GBR) 20 Great North Run (Newcastle Upon Tyne, GBR) 20
Berlin Marathon (Berlin, GER)
21 Sydney Running Festival (Sydney, NSW)
www.insideathletics.com.au
thletics 33 athletics
The last lap!
With Tim McGrath
DRUGS IN ATHLETICS It’s an often repeated thought to cheat and the means by which fraudulently obtained by cheating that the worst place to finish in they cheat are invested in so athletes, and in theory, this is meant a championship is fourth. Well, disproportionality (although obviously to flow to the rightful winners. Yet perhaps not so much nowdays, with not intentionally in the vast majority it can be a very time consuming numerous athletes being elevated of cases) compared to the means process. Similarly with the into medal positions when cheats are of detecting those infractions, that redistribution of medals, restoration caught. athletes will continue to dope, and occurs in part on an organisational The scourge of drugs on sport worse, get away with it. level, but the previously denied is something that is not letting up. I can only presume that nobody athlete never gets the opportunity Systematic state controlled programs grows up wanting to be a drug cheat. to savour and celebrate their from behind the iron curtain has all Somewhere the sense of right and performance in the same way as if but evaporated and we are without wrong goes out the window for those they had known their finishing place a doubt more efficient in detecting that transgress, and with the benefits as soon as their event finished. doping, yet the problem still remains. of doing so lofty, education can Rehabilitation of cheating athletes It seems that there will always be probably do little more to prevent the has never been a large focus, athletes, coaches and others perhaps due to the normalising linked to the sport willing to effect that could flow by I can only presume that nobody flaunt the rules and that no pretending that trangressing grows up wanting to be a drug cheat. athletes have a clean slate. matter how many resources are put into detection, that However, the moronically high Somewhere the sense of right and those intent on ignoring the rate of recidivism in doping wrong goes out the window... ideals of clean sport will athletes, usually leading to a life always be a step ahead. ban, is perhaps evidence that In fact, putting aside the diabolical prevalence of doping. more needs to be done in this area, nature of the work done in the In that case, the only thing left to if such athletes are to be allowed BALCO labs to design drugs with review is the punishment delivered to back into the fold after their ban is no other intent than to boost athletic those caught breaking the ideals of completed. performance, it is the case that most sport. Incapacitation has been the performance enhancing drugs are of Traditionally punishment primary weapon in the fight against great use in what they were designed is thought of serving one or performance enhancing drugs – for: combating genuine medical more of the following functions: simply banning those that infringe problems. In part, there lies the retribution, restoration, rehabilition, from competition. The standard problem. The pharmacutical industry incapacitation and deterrance. period for a first offense is two is a multi-billion dollar industry, so Retribution fulfils our most primal years, from the date the sample was while the best chemists in the world desire for vegence. Although I collected. This is problematic in itself, play daily with concocting new doubt it is the intention for this to as the battery of tests required in molecules, the World Anti Doping take place with drug cheats, it is back-logged, over-worked labratories Authority have a budget of only certainly that effect, with not only can often lead to a positive test not US$27.5 million a year for their work; the rapid diminuation of reputation coming until months after the sample their Australian equivalent, ASADA, plauging anyone even suggested of was given. As mentioned above, it has a budget of around A$15 million failing a test, but scornful loathing doesn’t really solve the problem. and given that the IAAFs total forevermore from the athletics Which brings us to deterrance. operating budget for 2007 was only community ensuring that their legacy Such is human nature that there are US$64 million, they can’t be investing is irreparably tarnished. many people who choose to make all that much into the cause. In recent times the IAAF and a correct decision, not because of It has to be taken as a given that other event organisers have sought its inherent goodness, but because while there are means for athletes restoration for the prizemoney of the negative consequences of
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The last lap! doing otherwise. For those with such moral turbidity it becomes a numbers game: do the benefits of doing wrong outweight the risks of the negative consequences if they are caught? At the moment, it is arguable that the chance of being caught doping is enough of a disincentive not to do it; usually in practice it will mean a year and a half out of competition. Fortunately the International Olympic Committee raised the stakes last year, by enacting a rule which prevents any athlete who recieves a doping sanction of more than six months from competing in the next two editions of the Olympic Games even if their suspension has expired. Some national Olympic committees, including those of Great Britian, USA and Australia already
had in place more stringent rules preventing athletes convicted of serious doping offenses from ever competing for their country at the Games. So it is somewhat pecuiliar, in light of the growing support for such initiatives and the dire need for a greater deterrant against doping, that the IAAF Council have not thrown their support behind an addition to the IAAF Rules which mirrors the IOC approach. The proposed rule, which will be decided upon at the IAAF Congress in Berlin in August, has been put forward by Sweden, Denmark, Israel and the Netherlands, and seeks to prevent any athlete who has had a ban of six or more months from sitting out the next two editions of the IAAF World Championships
in Athletics and any other world championships that occur in the same period, such as world cross country. The rationale, even from a vapid business perspective, is sound: the sport of athletics cannot afford to have athletes participating in its key events at the same time they are suspended from participating in the Olympic Games. I can only hope that the collective wisdom of the IAAF Congress outweighs that of the Council when it comes to making the decision. Otherwise, it will be the strongest indication yet of our sportâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s impotence to prevent the scourge of performance enhancing drugs. Tim McGrath
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