News

By Roger Robinson: This is a lament for a missing race, a new gap in our old sport. For the first time in memory, on the third weekend of March, there will be no IAAF World Cross Country Championships.  The event that for more than 100 years has produced some of the greatest of all running performances, from Alf Shrubb to Tinunesh Dibaba, the unique test of multiple skills, long revered among runners as “the toughest race in the world” and the hardest to win, has been cut from this year's schedule. From now on, “wor...

By Steve Boyd - A couple of very good magazine articles-- one in the December/January edition of Canadian Running, on the disappearance of the 10k as a popular race distance, and the other, in the December issue of Running Times Magazine, on the 1984 US Olympic Marathon Trials-- got me thinking, once again, about the future of running as a sport in this country (Canada) and, indeed, in the larger culture. I was interviewed at some length by author Mihira Lakshman for the first piece, and a few of my comments were featured. The larger context o...

By Evan Pegden - Camille Buscomb is on a roll on the athletics track this summer, the dominant 1500 metre female runner in New Zealand. But the Hamilton 21-year-old has followed a curious path to her improved times over the middle distances, which have seen her win the national 3000m title and favouritism for the 1500m title at the coming national championships in Auckland. A rising schoolgirl star at St Peter's School, Buscomb headed to the United States at the start of 2009 on an athletics scholarship to Purdue University. But while she love...

By Murray Mckinnon - IAAF World Indoor Championships, Istanbul – 10 March 2012 Valerie Adams won the World Indoor championships shot put with a personal best indoor performance and national record of 20.54 metres. Adams took the lead in the second round with a throw of 20.48 metres, and held it throughout the competition, unleashing the best of 20.54 metres in the final round of the competition. Arch rival Nadzeya Ostapchuk from Belarus finished second with 20.42m with Michelle Carter of USA in third on 19.58 metres. The win completes Ad...

By Myles Edwards - At the tender age of 17, twin brothers Jake and Zane Robertson decided to leave  the comforts of their home in Hamilton, New Zealand and make the move to Africa in order to chase their dreams in the sport of athletics.  Six years on they are now in the shape of their lives and sit on the verge of Olympic qualification for London 2012. Day by day these two brave, determined and hard-working Kiwi’s continue to prove their doubters wrong.  They had opposition from family, friends and coaches ...

By Evan Pegden - Jake Robertson aims to qualify for the London Olympics. Evan Pegden caught up with him during a whirlwind trip back home.  Jake Robertson says he has missed New Zealand's green landscape and his family, but he is confident five years living and training in Kenya will pay off with an Olympic qualifying time this year. Robertson, still only 22, is home in Hamilton for a few days this week on his first visit back to New Zealand since he and twin brother Zane left to pursue their middle-distance track running dreams on t...

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By Chris Barclay - Olympic hopeful Elizabeth Lamb extended her unbeaten record in trans-Tasman high jump competitions this summer but unhelpful weather conditions in Melbourne have stymied her attempt to clear the qualifying mark required for London. Lamb added the Melbourne Track Classic title to her collection in an event which doubled as Australia's selection trials for London 2012, but her winning height of 1.83-metres was well short of the 1.95m she needs to compete at her first Olympics. With the selection cut-off on July 8, Lamb still h...

By Tim Barton - St Pat's Town hope a twin attack can enable the school to be a force in the McEvedy Shield meeting next week. Twins Fa'aolatago and Mafutaga Tau, along with team-mate Siosaia Paese, are expected to dominate the junior sprint events at the historic athletics meeting. They are among a talented year nine intake at Town that has raised hopes the school can provide a genuine challenge to shield holders Wellington College. The McEvedy meeting, which is held on the first Tuesday in March, began in 1922 and 15 schools have taken part b...

Unprecedented interest in this year's AMI Round the Bays has meant event officials will look to extend entry numbers next year. Although the fun run is capped at 12,000 participants, organisers estimate another 500-600 unregistered runners sneaked on to the waterfront yesterday to compete. Round the Bays director Craig Ireson said the run, which sold out for the first time this year, was a huge success and he would look at extending the cap next year to 13,000. The half-marathon event was taken out by Kenyan runner Kip Kemei in 1hr 7min 49sec,...