This issue touches on another round of Japanese race results, celebrates International Women’s Day through welcoming Elise Beacom back to the keyboard with a spotlight on the marathon gender gap and includes an update on the Chemist Warehouse Summer Series. Enjoy and don’t forget to share it with any mates who are just discovering how good running is as a sport!
Spiked Up
#02. Georgia Griffith came on as the girls first guest and brought with her some wisdom about how she prepares for a race. ‘When I’m in the best frame of mind I’m kind of thinking about all the things I have to gain for a race, like this is going to be really good for my training… or it’ll be a really good test’. Georgia and Sarah must’ve been thinking like that before their Canberra race. Georgia’s driving mishap was also the confession highlight out of all the girls.
#03. Sarah Billings deep dive mixed in with some Rose wisdom ‘look guys, there is light outside the tunnel… wait, that’s a saying right?...’. As someone who is currently managing an injury this one definitely reminded me to keep the faith in that light outside the tunnel.
FTK
#88. Maturity levels increased considering Joel turned 30 (then disappeared for LLL&R). Joel’s week included some training, some illegal parking, the XC trials and a party where the firies and the police turned up. Standard week. Brett started to get back into the groove which was good timing with the successful first long run as part of the Sydney Marathon FTK Run Club.
#89. Matt Seddon interview. Brett continued in the groove to rack up 151 km’s for the week. Joel logged another 100 or so kms amongst his festival commitments but more importantly finally worked out that you can do prehab at training… even though it didn’t stop him from having his worst session of his life. If you’re the 10% who didn’t understand the brother, ew! reference here’s what you’re missing out on.
Chasing Paris UK
#07. Marc’s marathon mileage begins to catch up on him but that’s what you get on the big jobs. His weekly Bowerman anecdotes focused on training camps at the bougie Mammoth Lakes while he also spoke about his involvement with lactate testing. Phil meanwhile can’t keep himself away from marathon training and is back into it at home in Leeds.
Hot Takes
#09. Elise provided her Osaka recap and Riley questioned Kipchoge’s potential Olympic selection worries. If you’re wondering if there was an answer to how many records Jess Hull has broken it’s 17!
LLL&R
Number Twenty-Two. Are reference sounds just as important as reference imagery? If so, noot noot. Jack clocked 160 km’s for the week in question (two weeks prior to The Ten) and detailed a particularly hard kilometre (2:27) in his Tuesday session where Stewy was ‘so far in front’.
The spotlight on Japanese races has mostly come to an end for the 2023/24 season and once again, the last fortnight of results were a mixed bag from an Australian and global perspective.
Starting off in Tokyo, 32 year old Kenyan Benson Kipruto extended his head to head record over Eliud Kipchuge to 3-0 by winning in 2:02:16 to notch a CR (by 24 seconds) and PB (1:46). The race started out very fast as you’d expect in an event featuring the GOAT of marathon running. However, Kipchoge faded around halfway to eventually finish 10th in 2:06:50. It sets up an interesting selection dilemma for Kenya’s marathon team as Kipruto, who has never represented Kenya and now sits 2nd overall on the Road to Paris rankings behind Ethiopian Sisay Lemma, is effectively Kipchoge’s bad luck charm. Both warrant selection given Kipchoge’s 2:02:42 from Berlin still places him 3rd on the rankings however it’s not a great omen for the GOAT if Kipruto lines up next to him in Paris.
In the women’s race Ethiopian Sutume Kebede smashed her PB (by 2:17) and the CR with her winning time of 2:15:55. This publication's pre-race favourite of Sifan Hassan placed 5th in 2:18:05 in the second fastest marathon of her short three-run career. If you thought winning the Tokyo marathon in a Japanese all-comers record would make you a shoo-in for Ethiopia’s women’s marathon team you’d be mistaken. Kebede’s time makes her the 4th fastest of her country women in the selection period behind Tigist Assefa (2:11:53), Amano Beriso Shankule (2:14:58 and 2023 World Championships Gold Medallist) and Worknesh Degefa (2:15:51). The only argument in Kebede’s favour is that her 2:15:55 won her the race in Tokyo and she was over a minute in front of Shankule.
Nagoya followed the Tokyo marathon and all eyes were on Eloise Wellings. Unfortunately, she was unable to repeat her 2022 efforts and failed to finish. Eloise passed through halfway in 73 minutes which even if she did finish, at that pace wouldn’t have been fast enough to trouble the selectors. This is Eloise’s 5th out of 6 marathons since her 2022 PB in Nagoya where she has either DNF’ed or run slower than 2:30 (more than five minutes off her PB). It’ll be a great test of her marathon mindset if she can put that thought to the side when she lines up again for the marathon.
To finish the spotlight on Japanese race results there would be like finishing a Japanese holiday with a bad sake hangover. Instead, a nice cup of warm, free green tea from the local ramen shop came in the combination of wins in the Nagoya half marathon. Nat Rule (73:57) and Ed Goddard (64:01) each won by over two minutes in a result that would’ve pleased them for different reasons. Ed gets a fresh positive Japanese experience to look back on given his December Fukuoka disappointment (and also shows he can win races outside of Sydney) while Nat continues her positive trajectory back into racing after a 2023 that was basically non-existent for her race-wise.
The attention on international marathons winds down for the next couple of weeks. But, like always, the next international marathon around the corner to get excited for is the Daegu Marathon (April 7th) where reigning Commonwealth Games champion and two-time Olympic marathon representative Jess Stenson will be taking her shot at putting down a fast time.
By Elise Beacom
Marathoning is in a purple patch. Run groups have sprung up everywhere, lengthy queues materialise in search of the latest carbon plates, and marathons sell out as soon as entries open.
Yet the boom is far from equal. Female participation in the marathon is still proportionally low compared to the male numbers we’re seeing.
In the hunt for answers, I examined data from Gold Coast, Melbourne and Sydney Marathons between 2018 to 2023 (excluding virtual events due to covid). During that period, women comprised 27% of finishers on average, while men accounted for 63%*. Average female participation was highest at Gold Coast Marathon (31%) and lowest at Melbourne (24%), with Sydney sitting somewhere in the middle (27%).
The half marathons attached to those events told a very different story. Across all three locations, an average of 47% of participants were female, with the women’s field even exceeding the men’s at the Gold Coast Half Marathon in 2018 and 2019.
With huge numbers of women signing up for shorter events, why is the female to male ratio in Australia so different in the marathon? Let’s explore some of the socio-cultural factors that may limit women’s training and subsequent entry into marathoning:
Playing catch up: It’s wild to recollect that women weren’t allowed to run marathons until the early 1970s because they were deemed physiologically incapable. Kathrine Switzer was the first woman to officially run Boston Marathon in 1967. She had signed up using her initials to hide that she was female and had to dodge officious officials who tried to pull her off the course. The women’s marathon was finally introduced at the Los Angeles Olympics in 1984, almost 90 years after the men’s edition was added to the modern Olympics program.
Not enough time in the day: Training for a marathon is arduous, gruelling and time consuming, much more so than its shorter distance cousin (the half-marathon). In a recent global study by Asics on the gender exercise gap, 74% of women cited time pressures as a major barrier to exercising. Managing expectations around gender roles and caregiving responsibilities were some reasons for stopping regular exercise. Training for shorter distances is largely more accessible.
The baby question: Across Gold Coast, Melbourne and Sydney Marathons, peaks in female participation existed either side of 30, the average age women have their first child in Australia. Participation was highest among women in the 25-29 age range (16.3%) and the 40-44 age group (16.4%). A relatively higher proportion of women ran marathons in the 45-49 category (13%), compared with men (11.6%).
Safety: Fear can be a real barrier to getting out for a run. The alleged murder of Samantha Murphy, who disappeared during her Sunday long run in Ballarat, has shaken up runners everywhere. Further afield, Laken Riley was recently abducted and killed while running on her university campus in the US. These events fester in our sub-consciousness, causing us to make constant risk-assessments while running solo. Last year, Adidas published a study in which 92% of female runners reported feeling concerned for their safety while running. Listen to this FTK podcast covering women's safety and how to be an ally to female runners.
Okay, that’s enough of the nasty stuff, let’s talk about the good things!
The global participation picture is much brighter among the World Marathon Majors, which attract higher proportions of female runners. In 2023, women comprised an average of 39% of finishers across London (41%), Boston (43%), Berlin (33%), Chicago (47%), New York (44%) and Tokyo (24%). All World Marathon Majors (except Tokyo, which ironically has the lowest female participation) now have a policy allowing pregnant or post-partum women to defer their entries (at New York they still need to pay their entry fee twice, but hey, some progress).
On the road to marathon equality in Australia, there are some positive changes enabling women to run further and more frequently. Running apparel brands are producing garments thoughtfully designed for women’s bodies, fun runs are increasingly inclusive and welcoming, and female-focused run groups are emerging to provide social connection, safety in numbers and the endorphin high that we all love. (Some to check out are Run Like a Girl, Flow State, Running Mums Australia, Femmi and Chill Girl Run Club.) We’re also totally spoilt for female role models, from Erchana Murray-Bartlett who ran 150 marathons back-to-back from the tip to the toe of Australia, to our elite women who seemingly get faster every time they line up (listen to our FTK Aussie women's marathon series for guaranteed inspo). With all this momentum building, we’re bound to see bigger numbers in the marathon in the near future. And even though the blokes have had a head start, we’ll catch up soon.
*Figures on non-binary participants only became available in 2023.
It was almost a fortnight ago so it may have slipped your mind, but the Canberra Track Classic was the third instalment of this season's summer series. To refresh your memory, here’s some of the main takeaways:
The Women’s 800m depth in this country is frightening. Claudia Hollingsworth ran an Olympic qualifier, PB and meet record with 1:58.81. Training partner Bendere Oboya paced herself better this time for her own PB and Olympic qualifier (1:59.01). Sarah Billings (2:00.55) got on the train and showed she hasn’t lost her speed to notch her own PB while Georgia Griffith’s (2:00.89) season best would’ve warmed the hearts of Spiked Up listeners as well given her 2023. With four ladies having hit the qualifying mark, the Women’s 800m is Australia’s deepest event.
In any collective of items there is always one weak one. Think of that weird slow, instrumental only track on any young band’s album. In athletics meets it’s the steeplechase. In Canberra, there was no stream coverage and only a handful of competitors in the Men’s race, which was won again by Ed Trippas in 8:32.19 (which is only 0.05s faster than his Adelaide victory), and only two finishers in the Women’s race. Brielle Erbacher finished second last (AKA 1st) in 10:16. The Women’s event is the last event on the track on Friday night at the National Championships in Adelaide in a month’s time. Let’s hope that given a bit more ‘primetime’ we’ll get a race that reflects it.
The 1500’s were a lot weaker than previous iterations in this series so there wasn’t much to glean from these results from a national significance however as a race event to watch, both the men’s and women’s race had mighty tight finishes which still makes them a more entertaining event than the small fields of the steeplechase. If athletics is to grow outside of the hardcore running community that already follow it, highlighting the opportunity to see good quality racing not just elite entrants, could be one avenue to explore. There is both a whole horseracing and greyhoundracing industry that points to the fact that people love to watch and follow racing. Imagine if athletics could tap into that as a viewer base!
In this coming fortnight there is both the Sydney Track Classic, including the Australian 3000m Championships, and the Albie Thomas Mile (which is the Australian Mile Championships). At the time of writing full fields weren’t released so keep the links bookmarked above for when they do. With these events being the last two before the National Championships in Adelaide in mid-April, there are some serious bragging rights on the line. The main storylines to follow are:
Sydney is slated to feature another 800m and going off what we’ve seen in Adelaide, Melbourne and Canberra expect a great racing event. If Claudia Hollingsworth appears on the start line she’ll be aiming for her 10th consecutive win on the track across a range of distances however reading between the lines on Instagram it looks like she’ll be at Falls instead. Australia of course has 3 other women who have made the standard, with more that are certainly capable, in this event so head to head results are important hence Sydney’s 800m is one to watch no matter who’s racing.
Considering we are on track to have more than three female distance runners going under the 5000m Olympic qualifying standard, head to head results will again be important just as they are in the women’s 800m. This 3000m National Championship will be one of those head to head battles to watch. That point rings true for the men of course too but more importantly for them is building their Road to Paris ranking points considering the athletes in Australia currently are a touch off the qualifying standard. Jude Thomas has won the past two titles in 7:48 (2023) and 7:47 (2022) and will probably need to run a few seconds quicker this year to go for the hat-trick against an expected stronger than usual field which will include Matt Ramsden. Rambo finished 2nd in the 5000m at the Maurie Plant Meet earlier in the series and has a 7:43 from an F Category race in his R2P score. This event is a D category race so will carry an extra few points but not as many as the Maurie Plant Meet.
The Bankstown meet a few weeks earlier received a lot of positive commentary on the size and atmosphere of the crowd. Can the Sydney athletics community build on that again or was that a one-off?
How many athletes will race across both the 3000m Champs and the Mile Champs? It’s fun to race as often as possible and of course it’s one of the main motivating factors for a lot of elites but is there something to strategically gain from skipping the second event if they get a decent result in Sydney?
Of course you saw these results for the World Athletics Indoor Championships were on free-to-air TV! To remind you though, Catriona Bisset ran 2:00.13 for 5th place in her 800m semi, Jess Hull ran 8:24.39 for 4th in the 3000m and signalled her intentions for the 1500m saying ‘it’s a really good place to be and a great springboard for the 1500m, so I think we’re going to see a really big jump there now when I go back to it.’ It also bodes well for the upcoming 3000m Championships in Sydney but see more about that below. Linden Hall didn’t progress from her 1500m heat, running 4:09.83 for fifth place while Nicola Olyslagers did a high jump or two (I think that’s how you say it) and won that event with 1.99m for her first major championship gold medal even though that height on it’s own isn’t even in her Top 10 results!
At the XC Trials in Canberra a fortnight ago Tim Vincent must have been buoyed by the predicted podium finish given to him in Issue 26 as he started out hot and eventually DNF’ed. Haftu Strintzos actually won, followed by Liam Adams and Zach Facioni. Joining those three on the team in Serbia will be Patrick Tiernan (discretionary selection), Ed Marks (4th at trials) and Andre Waring (5th). In the Women’s race, only the top two finishers, Paige Campbell and Melissa Duncan, received selection. On paper the only person probably stiff at their non-selection is Maudie Skyring who was six seconds off Duncan and well clear of fourth place finisher Sarah Klein however as reported by Runnerstribe, Maudie declared herself unavailable for selection. For full teams, including juniors, click here.
At the NCAA Indoors last weekend Adam Spencer was the highest placed Australian finisher across the event. As can be expected in a championship event, Spencer’s 2nd place is more impressive than his 4:01 finish time (he ran 3:57 in his heat) and earnt him First Team All-American Honours. Joining him as an All-American are other Australian’s Ky Robinson (3rd in 5000m, 5th in 3000m), Jackson Sharp (8th in 5000m) and Hayley Kitching (4th in 800m). It is Ky’s third All-American Indoors team, Jackson’s second and Hayley and Adam’s first. Hayley was also the first female All-American we’ve had since Lauren Ryan (3000m) in 2022.
The Donna Double 22km at Warburton (VIC) kicked off the Golden Trail National Series as covered in Issue 24. Max Taylor finally got a win on the board in the men’s race after some strong (strong = a couple of 2nd place finishes) results in the back end of 2023. Australian representative and US-based athlete Lara Hamilton came first in the ladies race showing you can go from skiing in the US to running trails in 30-plus degrees heat. The second event of the series, the kunanyi Mountain Run 25km, is on next weekend with a slightly weaker field expected to line up given Buffalo Stampede and the Australian Mountain Running Championships are on at the same time.
There was a new 6-day World Best set by Camille Herron at a lululemon event in the US. Read here for more details and splits on how Herron managed 901.764 kilometres.
It’s well over two months away but a showdown between Josh Kerr, Jakob Ingebritsen and Yared Nuguse at the Bowerman Mile as apart of the Prefontaine Classic on May 25th was announced.
Speaking of things far away, the Sydney Marathon course has been updated and the half marathon event has been cancelled. The new course starts at North Sydney Oval which should make it easier to corral the at least 15-20,000 entrants, keeps it in line with the start of the Sydney Olympics course but doesn’t have a train station right on top of it like Milsons Point so runners will get their warm-up on their way to the start. Shifting the start time to 6am will be a blessing too if there’s another hot day but played a part in forcing the cancellation of the half marathon event.
Lastly, News Corp ran a story on International Women’s Day celebrating the Top 100 Most Influential Women in sport and not one female involved in athletics made it in there! Kudos in no particular order to these women for influencing athletics in Australia: Jane Flemming (President of AA and former Olympian), Jess Stenson (CG Medallist and commentator), Jess Hull (Multiple NR’s, 107k followers on Instagram), Gen Gregson (148k followers, largest of all), Tamsyn Manou (former Olympian and now commentator), Sinead Diver (Marathon NR holder) and Samantha Culbert (AA senior leadership team).
The Women’s 3000m National Championships in Sydney is going to be impressive. It hasn’t happened yet but it’s a fact I’m already sure of given the results at the Maurie Plant Meet and the World Indoors. Last year, Jess Hull ran 8:31 to set the only Australian major distance record on the track that is actually set in Australia. Given her start to 2024 the 8:30 barrier should be nervous.
In the next category, Rose Davies and Izzi Batt-Doyle, the 1-2 finishers from Maurie Plant and the 4th and 6th fastest Australian’s over 5000m will have their eyes on another set of home PB’s. Rose’s 3000m PB of 8:44 currently has her 5th on the rankings and Izzi is back at 8:51 for 18th position. If both ladies were to smash their PB’s like they did at the Maurie Plant meet and dip under 8:40 they would be joining the illustrious company of Hull and Benita Willis.
Not quite standing in their way but something the ladies will have to overcome is the fact that only three ladies have ever broken the 8:50 barrier in Australia with that list being made of Hull, Willis and former Olympian Kate Anderson-Richardson from a race in 1997 in Hobart. Making that more difficult is that as a National Championship there could be tactics like we saw in the 10,000m Champs that make it hard to run a PB. If it is tactical, watch for Rose who has been in the top two at the last three of these championships and might be looking to make amends in that tactical Zatopek race she lost. Given some of these facts, if we get multiple Australian’s dipping under 8:50 in Sydney in a week’s time you’ll know you’ve witnessed one of the greatest 3000m races in Australia. And if not, well, this fact just paints how good Jess Hull is if you didn’t already know that.
March 16th: THE TEN. Sound Running. Jack Rayner, Morgan McDonald, Lauren Ryan, Holly Campbell. Keep an eye on how many finish under the Olympic standard 27:00 (men) and 30:40 (women). Flotrack will have a stream available.
March 21st: Box Hill Burn. 5000m. Keep your eyes peeled for a Youtube stream from Athletics Exclusive as has been done in the past.
March 23rd: Sydney Track Classic including the Australian 3000m Championships. Entry Lists. 7Plus will once again be streaming the event.
March 23rd-24th: GTNS Race #2, kunanyi Mountain Run 25k. And in a separate state Australian Mountain Running Championships and in ANOTHER separate state, Buffalo Stampede featuring these listed male elites along with Anna McKenna and Kate Avery in the women’s field.
March 28th: Albie Thomas Mile (Australian Mile Championship). Quick history lesson, Albie Thomas was a three-time Australian Olympian (1956, ‘60, ‘64) and former world record holder in the two-mile (8:32) and three mile (13:10) both set in 1958.
March 30th: World XC Champs. Can Pat Tiernan crack into the top-10 given a weaker than expected field in this Olympic and World Indoors congested year? Considering his Houston result earlier this year, his 13th at the 2017 edition of World XC and his NCAA Cross Country title from the 2016/17 season there’s enough evidence to suggest so.
Yeowww that was a long one, possibly our biggest yet! Virtual pat on the back for getting all the way to the end! This division of Grattan House welcomes any and all reader feedback. If you want more or less of something, want something investigated, or Jordy Williamsz hasn’t dealt with your complaint in a timely manner, please enquire at theblueline@grattanhouse.com. All words are by Fraser Darcy unless otherwise obviously quoted or specified.