Welcome back to your favourite newsletter for another issue, and happy Australian Track and Field National Championships Week to all those who celebrate.
It has been quite a period in running since our last issue - two of the big stories dominating global news include Zane Robertson’s ban for EPO use, and Kara Goucher’s autobiography and revelations about alleged abuse from disgraced former Nike coach, Alberto Salazar.
On a more positive note, track and field nationals are on this weekend in Brisbane, and of course the Boston and London marathons edge closer. What a treat to have two iconic global marathons within a week of each other.
But in the biggest news to emerge recently in running, our own Fraser Darcy won the Australian Mountain Running Championships over the weekend. Yuge.
Also, and this probably deserves its own segment but - a massive shout out to Justin Rinaldi - one of the best 800m coaches in the world, and the coach of Peter Bol. Throughout the whole Peter Bol saga (we can call it a saga, yeah?), Rinaldi has been approachable, level headed, and happy to answer questions - as seen here on running message board Letrsun. Appreciate the transparency, Justin.
We’ve got some fantastic reading for you today, let’s jump into it.
by Elise Beacom
When a doper gets caught, we usually praise anti-doping for working the way it should. But how valuable is a single scalp in a very broken system? Is there opportunity for more, or will we be left underwhelmed and dissatisfied?
In case you missed it, New Zealand athlete Zane Robertson was given an eight-year ban for doping (four years for testing positive to EPO, four years for trying to cover it up). Zane lives in Iten, Kenya. He and twin brother Jake moved there at the age of 17 to learn from (and become) the world’s best athletes. They survived mostly off jam sandwiches and Zane used to dye his hair black to differentiate himself from his brother – the Kenyans called him “Running Elvis” (this VICE video sums it up - seriously if you want a LOL amidst the seriousness of this, start the video here).
Present day, Zane is in some strife. Failing his recent failed drug test, he came out with the outlandish excuse that he had gone to a clinic seeking a covid jab, but was mistakenly treated for covid instead, which included a shot of EPO. (What happened to a good ol’ fashioned lollipop to recompense bravery?) Zane isn’t the first athlete to come up with a ridiculous tall tale to save his or her bacon (sprinter Dennis Mitchell blamed high testosterone on a drunken all-night sex romp with his wife the eve before a test, "It was the lady's birthday; she deserved a treat," he told the disciplinary panel. And of course, Shelby Houlihan who recently blamed a poor defenceless burrito).
When Zane’s ban went public, he hastily recorded two podcasts (that we know of). Zane featured in interviews on Runners Only! with Dom Harvey and The Physical Performance Show with Brad Beer. (Trigger warning for both episodes, as Zane speaks of his deteriorating mental health to the point of being suicidal.) Whether his decision to tell his story so publicly was a mistake or not, it did provide him with a platform to say: I’m human and yes, humans fuck up. He showed more remorse than your average doper, especially those who live and die by their cock and bull yarns. I don’t know if it was Zane’s coming clean, or the clear conveyance of his mental and emotional instability, but I was left feeling a complex combination of pity and contempt. Pity for the depressive desperation that brought him to this decision, and contempt for the perpetuation of a doping culture at the expense of clean athletes who grind day-in, day-out.
Zane had been discouraged by his inability to keep up with athletes synthetically propelling themselves to new heights. The sport of running is losing to the adage: If you can’t beat them join them. But it’s not like Zane never succeeded in his sport. He had some very decent results, including the Oceania record in the 10k and half-marathon, the national record in the marathon and a Commonwealth Games bronze. Other elite runners floundering (naturally) must be even more discouraged.
There are a few interesting points to note from Zane’s account in the podcasts. Firstly, EPO (Erythropoietin) is used to boost red blood cell production to improve aerobic performance and is usually taken in a course or cycle rather than being a one-off dose (Zane mentioned he took it once). Secondly, the positive result came from a targeted test following the Great Manchester Run last year, which required cooperation between Drug Free Sport New Zealand and UK Anti-Doping. The New Zealand anti-doping authority couldn’t answer whether there had been any irregularities in Zane’s previous test results. Thirdly, Zane said he got the EPO from his ex-wife and brought it to Kenya from elsewhere, which could have been a tactic to avoid implicating Kenya. (Lastly, can someone tell me how to wipe my browser history? If the anti-doping authorities come after me, I’m in trouble.)
What disappoints me about Zane deflecting heat from Kenya is that we could have been on the brink of running’s own Lance Armstrong moment. If Zane’s downfall provided him with the courage and wild abandon to blow the whistle on Kenyan and international coaches, managers, doctors, training camps and individual athletes embroiled in the doping mess, this might have been an opportunity for some thorough spring cleaning. Even Dennis Mitchell (with the sex and beer defence) used his moment of disgrace to band together with other athletes to testify against their coach. Though there are safety concerns for Zane in speaking out, my biggest fear is that this moment slips through our fingers and nothing changes.
If the topics in this article have brought up anything for you regarding mental health, contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or Beyond Blue on 1300 224 636.
by Fraser Darcy
Where do you go when you need a hammer? A hardware store. Where do you go when you need THE IRISH HAMMER? Seán Tobin. An Irish fella who got the nickname while attending Ole Miss in the US. Tobin’s aggressive approach to races and ability to ‘drop the hammer’ when instructed yielded him a handy college career and a good launch point for the rest of his running days. Sub 4 minute miler, top-10 finisher at European Cross Country championships and a 2-time national champion. Not a bad resumé, but not what gets you a feature in TBL…
Sometimes in life though, you’re the Irish Hammer and other times you’re being hammered.
Two good summers training in Melbourne with MTC had Seán fit and firing for Hamburg Marathon in 2020. Cue the pandemic and multiple race cancellations. Then, a hamstring tendinopathy issue. The Irish Hammer with the bung hammy couldn’t get proper treatment due to the pandemics effect on health services. Throw in his brother passing away in 2019 and caring for his mother who has Parkinson’s. Then he misses out on his goal of qualifying for Tokyo. Gee whiz, the poor bloke deserves a break. Tobin though, an astute reader and practitioner of Stoic habits, has been patiently biding his time, confident that if he stays ready, things will turn his way soon.
Cue a trip down to Antarctica of all places to run your debut marathon and finally get one in the bag. When no-one’s giving you a start in bigger races sometimes the opportunities that present themselves aren’t fortuitous by any means and you have to go all Rocky IV on this shit. The race director, Richard Donovan, is a friend and long-time supporter of Tobin and invited him to come down to one of the most challenging places on Earth for his first time at the big dance. With no real foresight on how things were going to play out for the Hammer (and his hammy) Tobin set off in his debut marathon knowing he’d finish somehow - that’s the curse of the Hammer approach you see, you’ll get there in the end but in what shape who knows. The end result? 2:53:33, the win and a continental record, was a nice reward and some well-warranted media attention (cue TBL finding out about him).
The real reward though was the culmination of a few years of persistence to get his body and mind right for the challenge of the marathon - also keeping in mind this wasn’t just any marathon. If you’ve dealt with as much adversity as Seán has, a little bit of cold and some of the worst ‘cross-country’ like conditions are small fry for Seán the Stoic. At his emotional post-race interview it’s clear he went the full Irish Hammer approach and gave it everything. It’s a scenario that’s probably rare for an elite runner to not only go so deep in himself at essentially an amateur race but also to display as much emotion that’s more common among amateur finishers in marathons or ultras. It highlights the lesson that sometimes it doesn’t matter who you are or what the race is, if you take your body so far out of your comfort zone, hang in there, get it done and get it in the bag you’ll come out the other side knowing you’re an absolute champion for ticking your goal.
That’s where Seán finds himself now - on the other side of an experience he suggests other elite runners should consider. Not every race has to be a PB or a qualifier. Maybe there’s bigger value sometimes in unique experiences such as the Antarctic Ice marathon. The lessons Seán’s gained from his experience will set him up for a proper crack at the London Marathon in April, which should be a lot easier conditions wise.
Editor’s Note: Seán has unfortunately had to withdraw from London with…a hamstring injury.
by Fraser Darcy
It was a big weekend in the Australian Mountain and Trail Running scene. The selection period closed for the upcoming World Champs in Austria and there were two races which carried serious weighting towards selection for the team. In Hobart on Friday afternoon, runners/mountain goats competed in the Vertical Kilometre (over 5 horizontal ones) as a part of the greater Kunanyi Mountain run. Not an automatic qualifier but according to the selection policy, consideration would be given to performances here. Jeremy Hunt from Queensland won the men’s over Nathan ‘Nafe’ Pearce who hails from the trail capital of inner suburbia Melbourne. Both runners competed at last years worlds in Thailand so should be a strong chance for re-selection. In the women’s category, the first Aussie across the line was Maggie Lennox followed by Amy Lamprecht (GB’s Kate Avery won the race). Both ladies are Tassie locals which always creates a nice ‘aww the locals are getting it done in their own backyard, noice’ type sentiment.
The Ultra Solo 67km at the same event was an automatic qualifier for the 86km Long Trail Race in Austria so congratulations are in order for Andrew Gaskell and Sarah Ludowici (who according to my sources competed in Thailand last year too).
Over in Orange, NSW on Sunday morning the Australian Mountain Running Championships were held as a part of the Great Volcanic Mountain Challenge. Showing the efforts we go to here at The Blue Line, yours truly travelled over to ensure we got a good coverage of the race results.
In the end, running a race is a poor way to document it but it is a great way to win it, which is what I did.
The prize for winning was an automatic spot on the team for the World Champs in either the Up race or Up/Down race (they keep things pretty simple in the World of Mountain Running). In the ladies category, Jessica Ronan took out top spot and earnt herself her very own automatic qualifier. The World Champs are in ten weeks time which means all the athletes who will be selected have about ten weeks to brush up on their high school German and do some training. Any FTK listeners or TBL readers in Austria please feel free to get in touch to show me and the other runners around Innsbruck when we get there. Tschuss.
We’re not covering it because there are probably 100 previews that you can find, but if you want to watch it, it’s on 7plus. Remember that Queensland is 15 years 1 hour behind the other eastern states when you’re looking at the schedule, which can be found right here.
by Izzi Batt-Doyle
While the crowds may have been lacking at the Brisbane Track Classic over the weekend compared to the recent Tour meets in Australia, the Steeplechasers certainly didn’t let that hold them back with both the men’s and women’s meet records going down.
Shout out to Cara Feain-Ryan won a tightly contested Women’s 3,000m Steeplechase race with just over two seconds separating the top three. Cara, who represented Australia at the 2022 World Championships, ran her fastest time in 18 months running 9:38.44 ahead of a fast finishing World Junior Representative Stella Radford who ran a well earned PB of 9:39.11. World Champs and Commonwealth Games Rep Brielle Erbacher took third in 9:40.64 ahead of Olympian Georgia Winkcup in fourth.
Having been a steeplechaser in a previous life, I know what a gruelling event it is. I hope Cara and the other steeplechasers recover well and I look forward to watching the rematch at Nationals this week!
Not sure if I’m supposed to be sharing all of this but I accidentally got out of the lift on level 46 of Grattan House HQ yesterday (whoops, that’s not where my office is!), and saw a big whiteboard with podcast planning on it.
Anyway, here’s what’s coming up over the next couple of months from FTK:
Izzi Batt-Doyle hosts a series on Australia’s best female marathoners
Dave McNeill goes deep into the world of NCAA athletics
The name ‘Jordy Williamsz’ was just written in red and had a bunch of arrows pointing to it, not sure what that means
‘Your activity has been flagged’ - again, not sure here but I don’t think I’d want to be the subject of this one
‘Beep beep beep bop’ - a new series from Joel about his favourite computer music bands (ok, this is the only one that’s actually not real)
You get the point. Lots happening in FTK World.
That’s it for this week! Put down your phone, slip into something more comfortable, and get some miles in. We’ll see you for the next one.