2014 London Marathon Race Report by Catherine Wilding
It promised to be one of the most exciting races ever. The London Marathon was to bear witness to the double Olympic Champion – Mo Farah – making his debut over the 26.2 mile distance. Ever since Mo turned up on the start line of the London Marathon…
Mo Farah and the ‘double-double’
I don’t have a huge amount to add to what will certainly be an avalanche of superlatives as sports writers throughout the UK and almost certainly the world, try to explain what Mohammed Farah has actually done by winning the IAAF World Championships 5000m race this evening. I…
What we need are heroes
I believe that one of the reasons for periods of time when certain nations or even regions dominate in any particular sport, is the presence of heroes. There are others factors, certainly, but being surrounded by people one knows or you can relate to who are doing amazing…
What we can’t learn from Mo Farah
Yesterday at the Diamond League athletics at the Alexandra Stadium, I watched Mo Farah race in the unusual distance of 2 miles. And whilst it was great to see him boss the field of athletes assembled and witness what was undoubtedly a sort of lap of honour (well…
The perfect review of ‘The Perfect Distance’
A two part review of Pat Butcher’s book The Perfect Distance In this review, Michael Shelton took the time to review the book that takes an in-depth look at the rivalry between Sebastian Coe and Steve Ovett and ultimately resulted in such spectacular races in the late 1970’s…
London Olympic Games: Saturday 4 August 2012
An experience like nothing I’ve ever known before This is going to be one of the hardest posts I have ever written: I don’t want to rely on over-used superlatives to describe the experience of watching the Olympics in the athletics stadium last night, but that might be…
Mo silences his critics, spectacularly.
There have been quite a few people – press and spectators alike – who have ‘worried’ about Mo Farah in his recent outings. Steve Cram’s comments in mid-March, were typical of the concern that was being expressed about Mo’s form when he failed to win four races on…
Nike nailing the zeitgeist?
New year: new ambitions or resolutions. That is the way many, many people mark another revolution of our planet around the sun. I have read hundreds of blogs and tweets and facebook updates listing plans for 2012 as well as quite a few people criticising the glut of…
Will he, won’t he? The Galen Rupp saga continues
Since reporting a few weeks ago that Galen Rupp, the US 5,000m record holder and Mo Farah’s training partner under Alberto Salazar, had decided to enter the US Olympic marathon team selection race (here) at the Houston marathon, it has now been announced, by Ken Goe in the…
Is the US becoming a marathon super-power?
There has been much written about the recent emergence of the US as a force to be reckoned with in distance racing. The likes of Chris Solinsky (10,000m PB 26:59.60), Bernard Lagat (5,000m PB 12:53.60), Ryan Hall (marathon PB 2:04:53), Meb Keflezighi (marathon PB 2:09:15), Dathan Ritzenhein (marathon PB…