James Hansen, the sixty-ninth Australian to run a mile in under four-minutes, waited in the wings. He covered every move, stalking the leaders with flawless precision. It is easy to spot him amidst the fray, built for the brawl, his arms swinging like a barrage of punches. Hansen, now aged twenty-five, has run in six Australian 1500m finals, never medalling. This race, the 2018 Commonwealth Games trials, would be the most agonising. For a fleeting moment, with only fifty metres left to run, he hit the front. Besieged by the nation’s best milers, he dared to dream of winning. It was not to be. In the final strides, it all unravelled, swamped on the line in an unforgivable falter. For the second time in his career, he would finish fourth, only five one-hundredths-of-a-second shy of the medal he so desperately wanted to win.
As Michael Roeger’s body ground to a halt along the Embankment in London earlier this year, the crowd hushed, their breaths held in unison as they bore witness to the dramatic cruelty of the marathon. Mercilessly, it seemed, the historic distance was only moments away from claiming yet another...
Written by Jaryd Clifford - Runner's Tribe
Six seconds in the marathon is nothing, but for Liam Adams, it was everything. For a fleeting moment after crossing the finish line of the Gold Coast Marathon, frustration erupted. “Fuck. That was weak as piss. You stuffed that up,” he yelled. Stumbling...
Written by Jaryd Clifford - (c) Runner's Tribe
Everyone knows David Rudisha, but only some people know James Turner. This is a loss for the Australian running community. Let me tell you why.
At the 2016 Paralympic Games, twenty-year-old James Turner dominated the T36 800m, a race for athletes with cerebral...
RT EXCLUSIVE: Jordan Gusman
Why Malta?
Written by Jaryd Clifford (c) Runner's Tribe
The rumours are true: Australian 5000m champion Jordan Gusman is no longer eligible to represent Australia. A few days ago, he received notice of his successful transfer to Malta, relinquishing his automatic qualifying spot on the Australian team...
In 1998, a young runner from New South Wales lay shattered on the Olympic Park track in Melbourne. His name was Martin Dent, and moments earlier he had come to a grinding halt, his panic-stricken face awash with realisation. It was the Australian junior steeplechase final, and while leading the race, he had forgotten to hurdle the all-important water jump. His race was over, and there was nothing he could do. It was his fault, and he knew it. Rising slightly from the track, he began to pummel his fist into the ground, his frustration released in a brief, yet unforgettable tirade. It was this fierce passion that would one day take him to the Olympic Games, and make him one of the toughest runners in Australian history.
Written by Jaryd Clifford | Runner's Tribe
Twenty years ago, in the mountains of Tigray, a young shepherd boy herded cattle for his family. The rugged terrain was this boy’s comfortable place, his first home. On April 27, that same young boy from rural Ethiopia will stand on the start...
By Jaryd Clifford - Runner's Tribe
One week after Melbourne's historic Olympic Park bore witness to its final Zatopek 10,000m in 2010, a motley crew of nineteen runners and two pacemakers filed onto Geelong's Landy Field to toe the line in a comparatively modest race of the same distance. With...
By Jaryd Clifford | Australian Athlete
Some races you never forget. They ingrain themselves in nostalgic memory, a reminder of human spirit and the will of the battling competitor. Over time, the characters become larger than life, their battles mythologised in storytelling. It is in these races that the greats...
LINDEN HALL | A column by Jaryd Clifford – Runner’s Tribe
In 99 years, Hayward Field has built a legacy steeped in history. From the mythical genius Steve Prefontaine to our own hero Craig Mottram, its stories will last forever in the fabled pages of running folklore. Now in its final hours,...
