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Welcome to the new World Athletics website, the place to come for all things about our wonderful sport.&nbsp; We&rsquo;ll be bringing you new features about athletes and the sport, as well as making it easier to find the things we know you love.&nbsp;
&nbsp;From information about our events and news about our amazing athletes, to the rules of the sport, historical stats and features to inspire you to be active, it&rsquo;s all here.&nbsp;&nbsp;Over the coming months, we&rsquo;ll be adding more content and continuing to improve the organisation of the content.
If you have any feedback on the website please let us know. Get in touch at&nbsp;<a href="mailto:website-feedback@worldathletics.org" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-auth="NotApplicable">website-feedback@worldathletics.org</a>.

Welcome to the new World Athletics website, the place to come for all things about our wonderful sport.  We’ll be bringing you new features about athletes and the sport, as well as making it easier to find the things we know you love. 


Welcome to the new World Athletics website, the place to come for all things about our wonderful sport.  We’ll be bringing you new features about athletes and the sport, as well as making it easier to find the things we know you love. 
 From information about our events and news about our amazing athletes, to the rules of the sport, historical stats and features to inspire you to be active, it’s all here.  Over the coming months, we’ll be adding more content and continuing to improve the organisation of the content.
If you have any feedback on the website please let us know. Get in touch at website-feedback@worldathletics.org.

New World Athletics website

We're now World Athletics

Australia&rsquo;s Sinead Diver finished just 32 seconds shy of a podium place at last weekend&rsquo;s New York City Marathon.
Racing against some of the world&rsquo;s best road runners, it will have been a huge confidence booster for the 42-year-old ahead of next year&rsquo;s Olympic Games. But had it not been for a team fun-running event that her sister had organised at her work, Diver may never have got into running in the first place.
&ldquo;My sister needed somebody to fill in on her team as they were missing someone, so she asked me would I run,&rdquo; explains Diver (pronounced &lsquo;Divver&rsquo;). &ldquo;One of the guys there thought I was pretty quick and said I should join a running club.&rdquo;
Aged 33 at the time and with no real running background, Diver started to train more seriously, partly as a way to get fit after giving birth to Eddie, the first of her two children, and partly to see if she did have some latent talent, as people had suggested.
She joined the &lsquo;Crosbie Crew&rsquo;, coached by Tim Crosbie, soon after and progressed rapidly. She initially competed at national level in Australia and flirted with different distances on the track and roads before making her big breakthrough in 2014 in her debut marathon in Melbourne.
Running 2:34:15, Diver easily achieved the qualification standard for the IAAF World Championships Beijing 2015 and faced a difficult decision on which country to represent: Ireland or Australia. Having lived in Ireland until the age of 25, she moved to Melbourne in 2002 with her now husband Colin and has lived there ever since. 
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Australia's Sinead Diver in the marathon at the IAAF World Championships London 2017</div>
&nbsp;
&ldquo;I thought I would run for Ireland,&rdquo; she says. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m Irish after all. But then Athletics Ireland changed their qualifying time for Beijing to 45 seconds faster than my time from Melbourne. It was upsetting and I took it a bit personally.
&ldquo;Thankfully Athletics Australia offered me a spot on the team and by then I had lived in Australia for 12 years and I was set up there, so I was delighted to represent them and have done so ever since.&rdquo;
Diver finished 21st in the marathon in Beijing and followed it up with 20th at the IAAF World Championships London 2017. Since making her breakthrough into world-class territory with a clocking of 2:25:19 at last year&rsquo;s Melbourne Marathon, she has joined the Melbourne Track Club coached by Nic Bideau.
&ldquo;Moving to Nic has helped me take the next step in my running career," she says. "I&rsquo;ve moved to the next level and my training has changed quite a bit. I&rsquo;m now training in a group of elite athletes and being around them has made a massive difference to my running. I&rsquo;m really glad I made the move.&rdquo;
The switch has paid dividends and Diver finished an impressive seventh at this year&rsquo;s London Marathon in 2:24:11, securing qualification for next year&rsquo;s Tokyo Olympics. It also put her third on the Oceanian all-time list, just 95 seconds shy of the continental record held by Benita Willis-Johnson.
&ldquo;The London Marathon was brilliant,&rdquo; says Diver. &ldquo;I went there aiming for 2:23 but unfortunately it was a bit windy. I led the race for half of it which was unexpected and was a bit of fun. I really loved the experience.&rdquo;
Diver followed it up with a 14th-place finish in the 10,000m at the IAAF World Athletics Championships Doha 2019 with 31:25.49, just half a second outside the automatic Olympic qualification standard. Her 2:26:23 clocking in New York was Diver&rsquo;s first race since returning from the Qatari capital, but she is already fully focused on next year&rsquo;s Olympic Games. 
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Australian distance runner Sinead Diver</div>
&nbsp;
Having missed out on the Rio 2016 Olympic Games due to a knee injury caused by the cuboid bone in her foot, competing in Tokyo will be extra special for Diver.
&ldquo;Missing out on Rio was really hard to stomach, so to compete in Tokyo would be a dream come true,&rdquo; she says. "The Olympics is the pinnacle of sport. It would be amazing to be part of it.&rdquo;
Now aged 42 and showing no signs of slowing down, Diver believes it&rsquo;s never too late to take up a sport for the first time and that people should ignore those who say it&rsquo;s not possible to excel at a mature age.
&ldquo;If you feel good enough to do it, then give it a go,&rdquo; she says. &ldquo;Nobody else can tell you what your body is capable of. There is nothing to suggest that when you turn 40 you need to fall apart. It hasn&rsquo;t happened for me and I feel fitter than I was 10 years ago.
&ldquo;If I can do it then I can&rsquo;t see why other people can&rsquo;t do it too.&rdquo;
James Sullivan for the IAAF

Australia’s Sinead Diver finished just 32 seconds shy of a podium place at last weekend’s New York City Marathon.

Sinead Diver Australia marathon Olympics masters

Diver: 'Nobody can tell you what your body is capable of'

The 2004 Olympic high jump champion and four-time World Indoor champion from Sweden takes a step back in time and offers some wise words to his teenage self.
&nbsp;
Dear Stefan,
Be patient. For a 15-month period from the age of 16 you have improved hugely from 1.83m to 2.09m but for the next 15 months you fail to set another PB. Please, stay calm, I promise your time will come. Learn to trust the process. You may not have set a PB, but you have made improvements in bounding and lifting weights. It is important to focus on these little goals. It is going well.
You recently failed to qualify for the 1992 World U20 Championships in Seoul. Of course, it&rsquo;s frustrating to not achieve the goals you have set yourself, but try not to dwell on the disappointment and look at the bigger picture.
Remember, the long-term goal is not about performing well at age-group championships, it is about performing well as a senior athlete at the World Championships and Olympic Games.
Being coached by your father may not always be easy. It will occasionally cause tension. But you&rsquo;ll remember this experience and later, when you will coach your son, you will be able to understand things from his perspective.
You are quite shy, but high jumping gives you confidence and security, allowing you to evolve as a person. During your school years your English is terrible and does not come easily to you, but, again, don&rsquo;t worry. Your high jump career will give you the opportunity to develop and improve your English as you&rsquo;ll have to conduct press conferences and interviews in English.
I know too as a high jumper you are big fan of Patrick Sjoberg, your fellow Swede. However, being a shorter jumper, you also admire Charles Austin, Hollis Conway and Soren Matei of Romania, especially the way Soren can flip head over heels on to the mat after some jumps. Continue working on that skill &ndash; as you become faster and stronger, you will eventually master the technique.
So, Stefan, stick with it, be patient and keep on working. High jump will give you so much and allow you to see the world beyond your small hometown of Forshaga.
There will come a day when Daley Thompson, your childhood sporting hero, will come up to you and ask for your picture. That will be an amazing moment and will show how far you have come.
Stefan
 With Steve Landells

The 2004 Olympic high jump champion and four-time World Indoor champion from Sweden takes a step back in time and offers some wise words to his teenage self.

Stefan Holm Sweden high jump advice

Advice to my younger self: Stefan Holm

Plato once said that music gives a soul to the universe, and for a large proportion of the world&rsquo;s best athletes it&rsquo;s an essential part of their routine.
Whether it&rsquo;s to psyche themselves up for a race, to calm their nerves at a crucial moment or to help them through the daily grind of training, it can be a powerful aid.
But what songs stoke the fires for the fastest, fittest athletes on earth? We caught up with world 200m champion Noah Lyles and asked him to share his pre-race playlist with the world.
"This is my go-to playlist when I&rsquo;m running at a Diamond League or major championships," says Lyles. "I created this playlist in this specific order, with each song put in for a different part of my warm-up. The first song sets up the whole thing and then from Praise On The Inside to Never Let Me Down, those are really good songs I like to listen to when I&rsquo;m stretching and doing active drills. Then by the time I get to Ima Boss to New God Flow I&rsquo;m doing drills.
"Sometimes I&rsquo;ll get to Don&rsquo;t Like but usually New God Flow will be the last song I hear before going into the call room &ndash; it&rsquo;s the song that takes me over the edge. I only make a playlist for races, I don&rsquo;t use these songs for training because I don&rsquo;t want to wear them out."
&nbsp;
<h3>Noah Lyles' pre-race playlist</h3>
Pornography &ndash; by Travis Scott
Rabbit Run &ndash; by Eminem
Praise on the Inside &ndash; by J Moss
Jesus Walks &ndash; by Kanye West
Never Let Me Down &ndash; by Kanye West
20 Min &ndash; by Lil Uzi Vert
Rise and Shine &ndash; by J. Cole
Ima Boss &ndash; by Meek Mill
Power &ndash; by Kanye West
New God Flow.1 &ndash; by Kanye West
Don&rsquo;t Like.1 &ndash; by Kanye West
Holy Key &ndash; by DJ Khaled
Champions &ndash; by Kanye West
Voices In My Head &ndash; by Big Sean

Songs that fire up the world 200m champion

Playlist athletics sprinting Noah Lyles USA

The pre-race playlist - Noah Lyles

Runners are creatures of habit &ndash; addicts, but in a good way. As such, we have an ability to carve time out of even the busiest days to hit the road/trails/park and sate the desire.
That can be difficult when routines are thrown out of kilter and travel &ndash; whether for business or pleasure &ndash; is often a reason running takes a back seat. But it doesn&rsquo;t have to be. There are few better ways to see a new city than lacing up the shoes.
Not only does time seem to pass a whole lot faster when sightseeing along the way, but you end up taking in a whole lot more with your eyes than the tourists gazing at the world through a phone camera&rsquo;s lens. So here, without further ado, are some suggestions for your next run in 10 of the world&rsquo;s most visited cities.
<h3>New York</h3>
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Runners on the loop around the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir in New York</div>
&nbsp;
The green lung in the heart of the Big Apple, Central Park is an oasis of calm amid the concrete jungle. A run here of just about any distance is what dreams are made of, its green tranquillity juxtaposed with towering skyscrapers flanking its southern end. A full loop of the park taking a road or trail by its perimeter will see you cover about 10K, but there are many shorter options. There is a soft cinder 2.5K loop around the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir that offers spectacular views of the city, while you can enter at West 65th street to get on the Bridle Path loops (2.6K/4K), which are a great way to get the miles in on a soft surface &ndash; just make sure to watch out for horses, who have right of way. You can also hit the roads of Central Park (which are now closed to cars) and imagine yourself powering through the closing miles of the New York City Marathon. The last 5K of the great race runs through the park and finishes by Tavern on the Green on the west side of the park.
<h3>Dubai</h3>
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Jumeirah Beach in Dubai</div>
&nbsp;
The temperatures may make you want to stay indoors at certain times of the year, but Dubai has an array of green spaces and breezy running routes that are ideal places to get your running fix. Zabeel Park is one of the best, which is near Al Jafilya metro station. Open 24/7, it has a cushioned running track looping near its perimeter that is 2K and free to use. It&rsquo;s a hub of activity every morning and evening and is a great place to meet fellow runners from all over the world.&nbsp; Al Safa Park is also extremely popular with running groups and has a 3.5K running track along its perimeter. Burj Park winds through downtown Dubai and at a length of 5K, it offers a stunning view of the Burj Khalifa and Dubai Fountains. Fed up with parks? Venture along the 8K track by the Dubai Marina which has some of the city&rsquo;s best views or if you&rsquo;re feeling ambitious, try the 14K track alongside Jumeirah Beach from the Dubai Marine Beach to the Burj Al Arab.
<h3>London</h3>
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A runner on Primrose Hill in London</div>
&nbsp;
As hectic as London can sometimes feel, the city has a rich array of green spaces to free your body and settle your mind. One of the best places to run is Regent&rsquo;s Park and Primrose Hill in north London, where a 4K loop around the perimeter not only gives your legs a serious workout (note: hill) but also offers a stunning view of the city. You can get there easily by taking the Bakerloo line to Regent&rsquo;s Park station. Hampstead Heath is another runners&rsquo; paradise with a variety of grassland and wooded trails, while if you&rsquo;re staying more central it&rsquo;s hard to beat the 11.6K Diana Memorial run, which goes from Buckingham Palace through Kensington Gardens, Hyde Park, Green Park and St James Park &ndash; all beautifully maintained and well serviced by the city&rsquo;s tube (metro) system. If parks aren&rsquo;t your thing, try the 5K loop that takes you over London&rsquo;s two iconic footbridges: cross the Golden Jubilee Bridge before running the Thames Path to the Millennium Bridge before looping back on the other side. You&rsquo;ll want to bring your phone to capture the views from either bridge but please, leave the selfie stick at home.
<h3>Bangkok</h3>
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Benjakitti Park in Bangkok</div>
&nbsp;
While the heat and humidity can be stifling, there&rsquo;s no reason not to bring your running shoes if you&rsquo;re visiting Thailand&rsquo;s captivating capital. The streets and footpaths can be crowded and slightly chaotic so the best option is the city&rsquo;s parks. Lumpini Park offers 57 acres of lush green space, plenty of shade and a running loop that covers 2.5K. To get there head for Rama IV Road in Wangmai. If you find yourself keen to expand further then run to nearby Benjakitti Park for a loop around the lake. Chatuchak Park is not as big but another great option that has markers along the loop to measure distance. If you&rsquo;re looking for some interval training, the National Stadium is in the centre of the city and boasts a 400m track and outdoor fitness area. There are also a variety of river runs, with one option being to start at the Hua Chang Bridge Pier and head west along the Chao Phraya River, which takes you past some of the city&rsquo;s most beautiful Buddhist temples.
<h3>Paris</h3>
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Running along the banks of the Seine in Paris</div>
&nbsp;
If you&rsquo;re staying in the centre of the city, a run along the banks of the Seine is a wonderful way to catch the top sights. From Notre Dame to the Louvre, Place de La Concorde to the Eiffel Tower, it&rsquo;s a run that offers so many heavy-hitting tourist attractions you won&rsquo;t even notice the time passing. There are multiple parks that make for a magnificent running experience, with Jardin de Plantes (57 Rue Cuvier) offering a scenic 1.2K loop around its perimeter and Jardin de Tuileries (in front of the Louvre) boasting a 2.5K loop. Jardin du Luxembourg is a beautiful oasis of calm with a 2K perimeter path, about the same length as that of the Champs de Mars. For a longer run, it&rsquo;s hard to beat the Bois de Boulogne, which attracts hundreds of runners every evening and boasts more trails (about 50 kilometres) than you&rsquo;ll be able to get through in a weekend. All the more reason to return to the City of Light.
<h3>Tokyo</h3>
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Running around Tokyo's Imperial Palace Gardens at night</div>
&nbsp;
Few nations respect and appreciate the art of distance running quite like the Japanese. As such, it&rsquo;s no surprise that in this densely populated capital city there are a host of great places to run. The Imperial Palace gardens &ndash; accessible by five different gates which are all near major train stations &ndash; are a splendid, scenic option in the centre of the city, where you can choose between a 2.5K or 5K loop. Yoyogi Park is another hugely popular retreat, where a 2.2K paved path is available for use 24/7 and there are countless other options for those looking to go long. In Eastern Tokyo, a great option is to run along the Sumida River Terrace, which has a flat path that goes along both sides of the river. However, the path has little shade so if visiting in high summer it&rsquo;s best to run in the morning or at night. If you&rsquo;d prefer to feel the ocean breeze on your face, take a run around Odaiba, a man-made island with wide, flat trails that have 5K and 7K marked options so you can take your eyes off the GPS and enjoy the various monuments like Rainbow Bridge, the Odaiba Statue of Liberty or the Palette Town ferris wheel.
<h3>Johannesburg</h3>
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Braamfontein Spruit in Johannesburg</div>
&nbsp;
Africa&rsquo;s most visited city is also a great place to get some miles in the legs. A popular choice is the Braamfontein Spruit, where you can take a 4.3K loop south of the Emmarentia Dam through the Johannesburg Botanical Gardens. Need to get a longer run in? Try Kings Kloof, which boasts a labyrinth of running trails that cover a distance of 22K, with incredible views of valleys and no shortage of river crossings and natural pools to make you feel truly connected to nature. Parkhurst is a popular spot with the city&rsquo;s bikers, runners and walkers and while a run through Delta Park will make you work &ndash; given the inclines &ndash; the views you&rsquo;re rewarded with make it worthwhile. Parkview, the perimeter of Johannesburg Zoo and Westcliff are other great options that are ideal for a 5K or 10K jaunt.
<h3>Rio de Janeiro</h3>
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Runners on Copacabana Beach</div>
&nbsp;
Let&rsquo;s start with the place everyone knows best: the Copacabana beach. Running from one end of it to the other and back racks up just over 8K on the GPS and is pancake flat. While you can run on the soft, pristine sand, it&rsquo;s best to stick to the path alongside the shore where the biggest obstacle you&rsquo;ll face is keeping your eyes off the stunning view and avoiding the multiple other walkers, runners, cyclists and skateboarders. Another great seaside run is to go from the Leblon to Ipanema and back, which is a round trip of 8K and has equally stunning beach views. But for the Cariocas (Rio residents), a preferred option is Lagoa Rodrigo de Freitas, or lagoon, which is well serviced by public transport and hosted the Olympic rowing events in 2016. A 7.4K run around its perimeter offers views of Christ the Redeemer sitting atop the imposing Corcovado mountain and distances on that loop are marked every 200 metres.
<h3>Melbourne</h3>
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Runners jog around Albert Park Lake in Melbourne</div>
&nbsp;
Any runner worth their salt in Melbourne can tell you all about The Tan (and probably their best time for it), a 3.8K loop that circles the Royal Melbourne Botanical Gardens. The official starting point is at the Pillars of Wisdom. It&rsquo;s a hugely popular run and it&rsquo;s easy to see why, with plenty of shade, greenery and great views of the Yarra River. Elsewhere in Melbourne Albert Park Lake offers a flat asphalt walking/running loop of 4.9K that offers great views of the city skyline, while if it&rsquo;s a longer run you&rsquo;re after try the 11K route from Port Melbourne to Elwood along the Hobsons Bay coastline. Princes Park, with its 3.2K loop and flat, soft gravel track is another great option. If it&rsquo;s hills you&rsquo;re after, the Yarra Trails are an ideal option to get some natural highs.
<h3>Singapore</h3>
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Marina Bay in Singapore</div>
&nbsp;
Despite its minuscule size, Singapore offers some superb options for runners. Jurong Lake Park is an ideal spot to lace up your running shoes and stretches 10K along Jurong Lake, where you can choose between a concrete path or go off-road on gravel paths. To get there head to 104 Yuan Ching Road. For stunning views, you could also try a run along the Marina Bay, though be ready to dodge the multiple walkers who have the same idea every evening. East Coast Park is a big favourite of local runners, with wide pavements that stretch over 20K in length, while for a slice of tranquillity try a run at MacRitchie Reservoir where the mixture of trails and boardwalk loops run up to 10K in length. Punggol Park and Coney Island are other peaceful places to get the miles in, where the cool breeze will make things a whole lot easier.
Cathal Dennehy

Runners are creatures of habit – addicts, but in a good way. As such, we have an ability to carve time out of even the busiest days to hit the road/trails/park and sate the desire. 

Best big cities running world guide

Cities of the world – a runner’s guide 

<h4>Nine years after befriending an Ethiopian refugee in Ireland, Cathal Dennehy headed to Ethiopia &ndash; land of the runners &ndash; and joined in with a few training sessions alongside some of the world's elite.</h4>
&nbsp;
I can&rsquo;t keep up. As I chug across the rolling grasslands of Ethiopia, it takes about 45 seconds before I&rsquo;m painfully aware of my own absolute, overwhelming and slightly mortifying mediocrity.
Up ahead &ndash; close enough to hear my rasping, wheezing breaths but not close enough to ask if I&rsquo;m actually dying &ndash; a horde of high-level distance runners are coasting across the landscape at a pace of 4:50 a mile, or 3:00 per kilometre.
It&rsquo;s November 2018, three days since I had my ass politely handed to me by several thousand runners in the Great Ethiopian Run, and I&rsquo;ve come here &ndash; to a village on the very outskirts of Addis Ababa &ndash; to get an extra insight into how these masters of endurance operate.
I&rsquo;ve also come to visit my friend.
Back in 2009, when I was trying &ndash; and failing &ndash; to not be a mediocre distance runner, I got to know an Ethiopian refugee in my home city of Limerick, Ireland. Lebeta Debela had fled his nation the previous year and was a decent if not elite distance runner, one I trained with three times a week. He had very little English at the time, while my Amharic is, ehm, less than fluent (zero words).
But sometimes the universal language of running can transcend that. We&rsquo;d warm up together, try to smash each other in the ensuing session, then high-five at the end of it and do our best to learn more about each other&rsquo;s lives as we cooled down.
He was forced to leave Ireland and return to Ethiopia a year or so later, and as he did so he dreaded the conflict he was returning to at home. We stayed in touch over the years &ndash; the odd phone call and lots of Facebook messages &ndash; and each time we did I noticed the improvement in his English.
When we trained together, he&rsquo;d try his best to tell me what it was like in Ethiopia &ndash; the huge groups of athletes churning out runs, as many as 150 galloping all as one &ndash; and I always figured it was something I had to see to believe.
Late last year, I finally did.
It was a Wednesday morning at 8am when he arrived to my hotel, his uncle driving the car and the two of them explaining to this ignorant tourist &ndash; who had done no actual research &ndash; all about their home city of Addis Ababa. 
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Athletes training in Meskel Square in Addis Ababa</div>
&nbsp;
One of the first things you realise is most Ethiopian runners want to live in Addis Ababa, but no one really wants to train there. It&rsquo;s far too hectic, noisy and filled with traffic for most distance runners to enjoy, so many lower-tier athletes are forced to run back and forth across the steps of Meskel Square to get the miles in &ndash; several hundred on any given evening.
As such, many more elite-level athletes try to live on the outskirts, where city turns to countryside and they can either take a short car journey or run from their door and coast across the serene, green landscape while filling their lungs with thin, crisp air.
Lebeta was one of those athletes, and along the way to his home he pointed out the houses of world-beating athletes who lived nearby: Yomif Kejelcha, Lelisa Desisa, Feyisa Lilesa.
His home was basic but perfectly adequate and the small town, Burayu, was populated with hundreds of runners. We arrived just after 9am and he noted we were late for the group run, so would have to hightail it across the plains to intercept them.
That day, the group would run for an hour at a progressively increasing pace, circling around a 4K loop that everyone seemed to know &ndash; everyone except me.
I soon saw them approaching and immediately peed my shorts (figuratively, of course).
Like a kid on his first day at school, I slotted in at the back and hoped no one would notice as Lebeta joined the pack and explained &ndash; at least I think &ndash; who the wheezing white guy was at the back.
We were going at about 5:30 pace per mile, which I coped with for all of two minutes before slowing to a stop and wondering what I was doing with my life. 
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Athletes running in Kella Town</div>
&nbsp;
On they went, the group of about 40 whittling down with each lap as the pace cranked up. When they came past again, I rejoined the back of the group, and this time my GPS showed they were going faster than five minutes per mile, which, at an altitude of 2,600m/8,500ft, had me burnt alive in less than a minute.
And so I stopped again, jogged around at a (much) more sedate pace, and watched as the group reduced to just three athletes entering the final 10 minutes. By this stage Lebeta had also been burnt off, so he joined me on my jog.
&ldquo;Why don&rsquo;t you join in with them again for the last bit?&rdquo; I asked, and he looked at me like I&rsquo;d suggested throwing rocks at them for entertainment.
&ldquo;No, no, never do that,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Shame.&rdquo;
Once we&rsquo;d finished, he gave me the rundown of who was in the group &ndash; and I realised that for three or so minutes I&rsquo;d been chasing (in vain) the 2016 Olympic marathon silver medallist Feyisa Lilesa.
In what other sport, I thought, could an average Joe rock up and train with the world&rsquo;s best?&nbsp; And not only that, but receive nothing but handshakes and smiles and nice-to-meet-yous &ndash; this despite me breaking the cardinal rule and joining in again after taking a lap off. For shame.
As we headed back to Lebeta&rsquo;s place he pointed out other runners whizzing by &ndash; there was Ibrahim Jeilan, who out-kicked Mo Farah to win the world 10,000m title in 2011 &ndash; and many others whose names rang a familiar bell.
We decamped to a local restaurant where Lebeta and his uncle ordered (what I think was) beef, a dish that came plonked in the middle of a giant piece of injera, the flatbread made from teff flour that is a staple of Ethiopian cuisine. It was delicious. After an afternoon of sightseeing and a visit to a natural spring in Ambo &ndash; highly recommend this &ndash; Lebeta and his uncle brought me for lunch at their family home, where we met two keen young runners, aged 10 and eight.
I watched later as they joined two of their friends at a local green area and went through a warm-up of jogging, followed by various drills and then several 300m reps on a cross-country loop. The best of them, a 10-year-old girl called Misgana Bekele, won an underage section at the Great Ethiopian Run the previous weekend and, with a name like that, I made sure to note it for the future. 
<div id="5db747eb0bd9fc0b24637c04" class="dropMedia">
<div style="background-image: url('https://media.aws.iaaf.org/media/Small/e3a908c1-0bc6-41be-b883-efd649110431.jpg');">&nbsp;</div>
Young runners in a field in the suburbs of Addis Ababa</div>
&nbsp;
When the day was done and Lebeta and his uncle dropped me back to the hotel, there were hugs exchanged and promises made that we wouldn&rsquo;t leave it eight years next time, my hosts refusing to accept a single cent towards the cost of our meals or travel.
That, above all, left a lasting impression about Ethiopians, the most hospitable people I&rsquo;ve come across. There was always a warm welcome.
It&rsquo;s what I and fellow journalist Weldon Johnson of Letsrun.com received a few days earlier when we tagged along with a group managed by Daan van den Berg of Global Sports Communication. This time, I didn&rsquo;t even attempt to keep up, happy to coast along in the van as the few-dozen-strong men&rsquo;s and women&rsquo;s groups churned out their 20-mile run.
We were told by Van den Berg to meet at a specific roundabout in Addis Ababa at 5:30am, and sure enough, as we stood there in darkness, a van pulled up filled with athletes.
We drove for about an hour out of the bustling city and when we arrived in Sendafa, the sun was slowly peeking over the horizon. At 6:45am, the group&rsquo;s coach Getaneh Tessema blew a whistle and all runners gathered in a circle, the coach and his assistant Assefa Mezgebu &ndash; best known for winning Olympic 10,000m bronze in 2000 behind Haile Gebrselassie and Paul Tergat &ndash; cracking jokes before they outlined the day&rsquo;s work. 
<div id="5db747930bd9fc0b24637c02" class="dropMedia">
<div style="background-image: url('https://media.aws.iaaf.org/media/Small/6cb9c32e-ca24-476c-a4af-a5c5fa54c674.jpg');">&nbsp;</div>
Head coach Getaneh Tessema (right) and assistant coach Assefa Mezgebu (left) with their training group in Sendafa</div>
&nbsp;
Then off they went, hordes of the world&rsquo;s best, with two-time London Marathon champion Tsegay Kebede leading the way at a steady six minutes per mile.
Over the next two hours, we saw about 300 athletes out there churning on the roads, this being only one of three key areas that runners train in outside Addis Ababa. We even saw a group of Ethiopian race walkers, five of them hurtling by and offering a glimpse into what the future could hold if this nation of runners decides to channel more talent into that event.
When the group run was complete, the athletes downed what remained of their drinks and changed alongside the road &ndash; with men and women separated by about 50 yards &ndash; and then they were back into the van for the drive back to Addis, 20 miles in the legs and the clock yet to strike 10am.
Seeing it all in person, it was hard not to feel lazy, even a tad guilty about the undeniable privilege that many others don&rsquo;t enjoy. 
<div id="5db747440bd9fc0b24637c01" class="dropMedia">
<div style="background-image: url('https://media.aws.iaaf.org/media/Small/6df6cddf-f03b-4281-a75f-89fe5e4336e4.jpg');">&nbsp;</div>
Athletes training in Sendafa</div>
&nbsp;
It was, above all, a reminder not so much how hard athletes in Ethiopia work &ndash; back in Ireland I knew several distance runners who trained just as hard, organising their lives around this pursuit with the same obsession &ndash; but it&rsquo;s the sheer volume of those doing it that leaves a lasting impression.
Thousands upon thousands, churning out 100 miles a week or more in places where there are no distractions, where nothing else seems to matter other than trying to keep up a little better today than you did yesterday. Do that and maybe one day you can be one of the men or women left at the front of your group, which means you&rsquo;re not far off the best in the world.
It&rsquo;s a place where the attitude rubs off and leaves you all the better for experiencing it. A place where everyone, no matter how fast or slow, is a dreamer.
<hr />
<h3>How to: run in the footsteps of greats in Ethiopia</h3>
One of the most popular training destinations for foreign runners is Sululta, a small town outside Addis Ababa which is surrounded by hills and eucalyptus forests and can be reached by private taxi for US $20 (or a lot cheaper if you&rsquo;re able to work out the public bus system, which I did, but only with the help of a local).
A popular choice of residence near Sululta is Yaya Village, which is owned by Ethiopian great Haile Gebrselassie, and running guides are available to show you the ropes of the locality.
Another hotspot for distance runners is Entoto, where many groups go hill training. If you&rsquo;re willing to venture further afield, try visiting Bekoji, the so-called Town of Runners.
While searching online about various locations and talking to those who&rsquo;ve been there is your best bet for research, you&rsquo;ll likely find most running groups and coaches are extremely open and offer a warm reception to runners who show up without an invite (guilty as charged).

I can’t keep up. As I chug across the rolling grasslands of Ethiopia, it takes about 45 seconds before I’m painfully aware of my own absolute, overwhelming and slightly mortifying mediocrity. 

Running Ethiopia Addis Ababa

Running in the footsteps of greats

Books about running fall into two broad categories &ndash; celebration, and aspiration.
The deeds of those who have made their name on the track, or the road, are recalled by the participants, or honoured by observers. Meanwhile those wishing to partake of this magical realm are offered all manner of advice as they prepare to tie up their laces and get underway.
So here goes with the first, unscientific, sample of what is out there for those wishing to follow, or to participate in the great sport of track and field.
&nbsp;
<img style="width: 100px; height: 152px; margin-left: 20px; align: right;" src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51%2BIZwj6WFL._SX327_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg" alt="book" align="right" />Emil Zatopek won 10,000m gold and 5000m silver at the 1948 London Games and returned to the Olympic arena four years later in Helsinki where he won the 10,000m, the 5000m and &ndash; even though he had never run the distance before &ndash; the marathon; an achievement never likely to be matched.
His life forms the basis of Rick Broadbent&rsquo;s <a href="https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/endurance-9781472920225/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Endurance: The Extraordinary Life and Times of Emil Zatopek</a> (Bloomsbury, 2016). Our hero&rsquo;s athletic virtues were startling enough &ndash; by the time of his last race in 1958 the Czechoslovakian soldier had 18 world records to his credit, not to mention an additional three European titles.
<img style="width: 100px; height: 153px; margin-left: 20px; align: right;" src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51%2B0VVbe6QL._SX324_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg" alt="book" align="right" />But it is the political context in which he was obliged to compete, painstakingly described in Broadbent&rsquo;s intelligent, ambitious and wide-ranging account, which deepens one&rsquo;s regard for a figure whose quirky, seemingly unquenchable spirit was recognised and appreciated around the world.
The following year another outstanding account of Zatopek&rsquo;s life came out, from Richard Askwith, entitled <a href="https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/1109422/today-we-die-a-little/9780224100359.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Zatopek &ndash; Today We Die A Little</a> (Yellow Jersey Press, 2017). A beautifully controlled and imaginatively realised read.
&nbsp;
<img style="width: 100px; height: 150px; margin-left: 20px; align: right;" src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/41FbKCBca%2BL.jpg" alt="book" align="right" />When Meb Keflezighi &ndash; the first person in history to win both the Boston and New York City marathons as well as an Olympic marathon medal, having taken silver at the 2004 Athens Games &ndash; ran his final marathon in New York City on 5 November 2017, it marked the end of an extraordinary distance-running career.
Two years on he has written a book which reflects on each and every one of those marathon runs, and how they have challenged and changed him. It is entitled, fittingly enough, <a title="26 Marathons" href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/592247/26-marathons-by-meb-keflezighi-with-scott-douglas/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">26 Marathons</a> (Rodale Books, 2019).
&ldquo;Meb&rsquo;s 26 Marathons is like opening a treasure chest full of inspiring stories... It is pure gold!&rdquo; said Shalane Flanagan, a home winner in the women&rsquo;s race on the day Meb ran his last one.
&nbsp;
<img style="width: 100px; height: 152px; margin-left: 20px; align: right;" src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/41RHivLfFnL._SX327_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg" alt="book" align="right" />Can you run away from grief, and fear? Can you run towards acceptance, and peace of mind? These are the primal questions posed in <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/537830/running-home-by-katie-arnold/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Running Home: A Memoir</a> (Random House, 2019) by Katie Arnold, an established writer about extreme athletics.
Following the sudden death of her father through cancer, and the anxiety that gripped her a year later when she feared she was also dying, Arnold found that her solace came in running. Running and running, out in the wilds.
She then turned seriously to ultra-distance trail running as an outlet for grief and a space for self-reflection.&nbsp; She also investigates the science that appears to back her instinct that this is a healing process.
&nbsp;
<img style="width: 100px; height: 160px; margin-left: 20px; align: right;" src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51UQHO08THL._SX310_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg" alt="book" align="right" />On the theme of ultra-running, acclaimed author Adharanand Finn, who has previously produced the hugely popular titles Running with the Kenyans and The Way of the Runner, has this year issued a despatch from another part of the athletics parish.
The <a href="http://pegasusbooks.com/books/rise-of-the-ultrarunners-cl-9781643131351-hardcover" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Rise of the Ultra Runners</a> (Pegasus Books, 2019) looks at an area of running that has moved into the mainstream in recent years and become popular around the world.
&nbsp;
<img style="width: 100px; height: 123px; margin-left: 20px; align: right;" src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/512GG5MIwvL._SX405_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg" alt="book" align="right" />On the theme of anxiety, Kelly Holmes, Britain&rsquo;s 2004 Olympic 800m and 1500m champion, has been brave and open about the occasional struggles she has had during, and after, her running career.
Her latest book, <a href="https://www.kylebooks.co.uk/titles/kelly-holmes/running-life/9780857836533/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Running Life</a> (Kyle Books, 2018) is an inspirational, practical guide for improving physical and mental health. Holmes draws upon her own experiences of dealing with depression and the heart-breaking injuries that helped deny her for many years the rewards her talents merited.
&nbsp;
<img style="width: 100px; height: 151px; margin-left: 20px; align: right;" src="https://images-eu.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/515E1dP0pvL.jpg" alt="book" align="right" />Coach Denise Sauriol has competed in more than 100 marathons, and is apparently known as The Marathon Whisperer. In her book <a href="http://isbndb.com/book/9781642373264" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Me, You and 26.2</a> (BlogintoBook.com, 2018) she offers her own accumulated experience, interspersed with first-hand accounts from novice marathon runners &ndash; all intended to persuade and support the virgin marathon runner.
Sauriol&rsquo;s personal journey was traumatically interrupted by an accident while out training which left her with several broken vertebrae, and caused her to re-think her attitude once she was, thankfully, able to return to running.
&nbsp;
<img style="width: 100px; height: 161px; margin-left: 20px; align: right;" src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51BxUQVcHeL._SX308_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg" alt="book" align="right" />The marathon, as one might expect, is the subject of many books that are published on the broad subject of running. But you will go some to find better advice than that offered by the late, and lamented, Sunday Times athletics correspondent, Cliff Temple, who also coached athletes to Olympic level.
<a href="http://isbndb.com/book/9780091743314" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Marathon, Cross Country and Road Running</a> (Stanley Paul, 1990) is still available, and a classic &ndash; not least because of Cliff&rsquo;s ability to be funny and instructive at the same time. Opening a page at random &ndash; and it is page 147: &ldquo;The recurring rule of thumb for getting fitter is: Hard work plus rest equals success. Hard work, plus hard work, minus rest, equals injury.&rdquo;
Cliff sets out tables as a guide to starters on the marathon trail. He advises a year of training. But he knows what runners, and people, are like, so he also provides a six-month version. Even if you never run a marathon, you&rsquo;ll enjoy reading this.
&nbsp;
<img style="width: 100px; height: 149px; margin-left: 20px; align: right;" src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51nupEIQrsL._SX333_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg" alt="book" align="right" />In <a title="Running Past Fifty" href="https://www.skyhorsepublishing.com/9781510736306/running-past-fifty/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Running Past Fifty</a>, (Skyhorse Publishing 2018) lifelong runner Gail Waesche Kislevitz provides helpful tips and motivation from thirty-six runners aged fifty or older.
Kislevitz also interviews many ordinary senior runners, and some of the nation&rsquo;s greatest senior runners. The latter including the late Ed Whitlock, who, at 85, set an age-division world record of 3:56 in the marathon; Bill Rodgers, winner of four Boston Marathons and four New York City Marathons; George Hirsch, chairman of New York Road Runners; Olympian and author Jeff Galloway; world record holder Sid Howard; and runner and women&rsquo;s pioneer runner and advocate Kathrine Switzer.
&nbsp;
<img style="width: 100px; height: 156px; margin-left: 20px; align: right;" src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51NF4KBP4KL._SX301_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg" alt="book" align="right" />We&rsquo;re skipping back in time a bit here, but this famous athlete, in a revised version of his 50-year-old autobiography, references a letter he received from a contemporary &ndash; that is, 70-year-old &ndash; man from Lancashire.
The correspondent related how he had been inspired to start running by watching a cinema newsreel screening of what he describes as &ldquo;that wonderful race&rdquo;. That race was the one in which Roger Bannister broke the four-minute mile with his time of 3:59.4 at Iffley Road, Oxford.
<img style="width: 100px; height: 153px; margin-left: 20px; align: right;" src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51mRigc5OyL._SX324_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg" alt="book" align="right" />And Bannister&rsquo;s original book, written as elegantly as one might expect, has been updated and reincarnated as <a href="https://www.thehistorypress.co.uk/publication/the-first-four-minutes/9780750935302/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The First Four Minutes</a> (Sutton Publishing, 2004) and, three years before his death, <a href="https://www.bitebackpublishing.com/books/twin-tracks" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Twin Tracks</a> (Robson Press, 2015).
He recalls the moment when he made history. &ldquo;The last few seconds seemed never-ending. The faint line of the finishing tape stood ahead as a haven of peace, after the struggle&hellip; I leapt at the tape like a man taking his last spring to save himself from the chasm that threatens to engulf him.&rdquo;
&nbsp;
<img style="width: 100px; height: 134px; margin-left: 20px; align: right;" src="https://media.aws.iaaf.org/media/Original/20b51c5c-cbc0-424f-a912-337ba9deaecf.jpg" alt="book" align="right" />While we&rsquo;re in classics mode, there is another, still available book edited by the late, highly esteemed former Sunday Times journalist Norman Harris that is a box of delights. <a href="http://isbndb.com/book/9781852250096" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Running &ndash; the Power and Glory</a> (Partridge Press, 1986).
The selected pieces within take one through the history of athletics in irresistible fashion, starting with an account of how the great runners of their time, Walter G George of England and Scotland&rsquo;s William J Cummings, had met in 1886 at Lillie Bridge Stadium in London in what was the latest in a sequence of challenges over a mile. The description is taken from Kings of Distance, written by journalist and novelist Peter Lovesey. George wins, after effectively running the Scot into the ground.
Amid first-hand reports of great races, featuring Peter Snell, Ron Hill, Roger Bannister, Vladimir Kuts and Jack Lovelock, there is another account from Lovesey, forensically examining the performance at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics of another fabled athlete &ndash; Emil Zatopek.

Books about running fall into two broad categories – celebration, and aspiration.

Athletics books library Zatopek Bannister Keflezighi

A dozen books to kick-start your athletics library

Ethiopia&rsquo;s Senbere Teferi will aim to win her fourth successive title at the Cross de Atapuerca in Burgos on 9 November, the opening fixture on the 2019-2020 World Athletics Cross Country Permit calendar.
The 2015 world 5000m and cross-country silver medallist made history with her victory at last year&rsquo;s Cross de Atapuerca, becoming the first woman to win three times in Burgos. More recently, Teferi broke her own Ethiopian half marathon record with her 1:05:32 victory in Valencia last weekend.
Teferi&rsquo;s 24:48 clocking in Burgos in 2016 &ndash; beating the then world cross-country champion Agnes Tirop &ndash; is the fastest time ever recorded on the women&rsquo;s 8km course. In 2017 and 2018 Teferi finished just ahead of world 5000m silver medallist Margaret Kipkemboi to win.
The Cross de Atapuerca is one of eight meetings in the 2019-2020 World Athletics Cross Country Permit series, which once again includes some of the most prestigious international cross-country races in the world.
After Burgos, the series will take in four other Spanish meetings alongside two stops in Italy before reaching its conclusion in the Portuguese city of Albufeira on 15 March 2020.
Organisers for the IAAF

Ethiopia’s Senbere Teferi will aim to win her fourth successive title at the Cross de Atapuerca in Burgos on 9 November, the opening fixture on the 2019-2020 World Athletics Cross Country Permit calendar.

Gold test 3

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Running in the footsteps of greats

A dozen books to kick-start your athletics library

Teferi targets title No.4 at Atapuerca