I sincerely hope there haven’t been any conversations similar to this one:
Clarke and Dawes “The Games”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=teoL6FKEtCY
It’s actually an entirely new track at a new sporting complex in Claremont (not Perry Lakes), so we are only talking this year.
from the series on the abc, it was good for a laugh
Yes, an all time favorite! I don’t think there’s anyone that can deliver dry humor quite as effectively as John Clarke.
Roy and HG is the other olympic tv show that stuck in my head, remember the interviews where Green & Bolton were telling each other what they were doing.
Surely the WA stadium has a surveyors certificate, good winds, why not.
The Games.
Come on guys it’s a bit of a joke that everyone goes to Perth and runs a pb. The winds are great, the track is new, it’s slightly better oriented for the wind I have been told so no wonder they all run fast there.
Oz Nats there in 2 weeks or so so no doubt there will be more fast times but look how fast everyone has run when not in Perth, a good 0.15s slower. PJ one week 10.18s with a nice +1.5, then 2 weeks later 10.34s with a +0.6 in Sydney.
Good luck to them I say but I wonder how many athletes will get near these times in the rest of the year if ever? (unless they are back in Perth…)
This has turned into an interesting discussion…its like this Perth track is the holy grail for sprinters. Okay i understand some comments may be tongue in cheek. But let me see if the athletes are 0.2s faster and turn up and run another 0.2s faster at their championships are they now not 0.4s faster or do we take the previous PB that was only 0.2s faster or do we look to the previous PB outside of that not in Perth. I wonder in this case who gets the accolades the athlete, coach, person who laid the track or is it an alignment of stars. These poor sprinters are damned if they do and damned if they don’t. With respect to the example above the 10.18s (1.5) v 10.34s (0.6). Equated for wind that difference is closer to 0.1s and considering the time difference and travel between seems like a fair enough back up run. I suppose we can all look forward to Bolt running 9.38s and Jeter 10.44s…props to all these athletes running fast. How about we encourage them to build more of these facilities so more athletes can run fast, after all isn’t that what its all about.
So , I guess not many of you know the famous Rieti track…in Italy, usually your SB ins 15 hundreths faster than any other:)
Track more about lies, errors, and b.s than actual performance. There are so many BS times/distances in the world of track&field it is sad. I am not taking anything away from Serret, I’m just talking in general. I will be interested to see what he runs the remainder of the season.
Dazed
The same “story” goes around here too. Some sprinters I know have been talking “the Perth talk” for some time. I have not been there yet but .20 gets mentioned by those that have.
Until this run PJ’s time was the fastest. What was his time run immediately prior to Perth, and also his time in the next race after Perth? One of the sprinters I know will run in Perth at the Nationals for the first time. If he betters his PB by .20 or more, my athletes will run in Perth only. 
edit; Oh, I see PJ has already been mentioned. Did not read that until now.
Interesting now we have moved on to times that may actually not be valid and that tracis all about likes, errors and b.s than actual performances…ha ha ha. Funny…when Michael Johnson ran 19.3 in Atlanta no one was going on about how he had broken his PB by 0.3s and lets just see if he can run as fast at another track. I am pretty sure no one was implying the performance was BS. Everyone was going nuts and thinking wow what can humans potentially do. When Bolt did the same in the 200m and smashed his PB in Beijing by possibly even a larger margin we weren’t getting down there with a spirit level and a tape measure. Nor were we looking towards the heavens to see if Pluto was inline with the moon. An individual has run fast and its seems people want to look at reasons for why it can’t be…and yes as Eroszag has pointed out there are plenty of fast tracks including Rieti, Athens, Indianapolis, Seoul, Bern you name it where performances year in and year out are super quick. Anyway like I said great job to that guy and lets hope he gets an invite to Rieti however, I am worried what people will say if he runs 0.15s faster ha ha ha ha 
Sevastocrator I wouldn’t cut yourself short. Will your athlete not be running at there major championships? If so maybe if they break their pb by 0.2s you might have hit your Taper spot on…
spike
Whether be it ARS or PJ or anyone else for that matter I could not care less. Both of them ran legit times - period.
All I am saying here is that the “Perth talk” gets mentioned quite often as no other track in AUS. Why?
Sydney is fast - but not as fast as Perth, I hear. Get this - I am not talking about any sprinter here - just the track! You have missed the point with MJ’s comparison. The same goes for Bolt.
The talk is about - the track in Perth. Cheers.
Johnson’s love affair with Perth continues
By Alex Malcolm
WA’s new athletics stadium is fast becoming a favourite amongst the nation’s best athletes after giving up two Commonwealth A-qualifiers on a cool and breezy Friday night.
Australian record-holder Patrick Johnson has set a blistering benchmark for the rest of the nation’s sprinters to chase by clocking an A-qualifier in stunning fashion.
Dane Richter ran a smooth 400m hurdles in 52.88 to show that it isn’t just the sprinters enjoying the perfect track conditions at Perth’s new stadium.
But the sprinters do love it. Johnson is contemplating permanent residency in Perth having now run four of Australia’s fastest six times at the venue in 2010. He will start a warm favourite at the national championships in April and he will receive a warm reception from the Western Australian crowd as well who have adopted him after the show he has put on in the last week.
3 cheers for Perth on having a world class track. Brisbane track is breaking up and in some places is down to the underlay, it has lost its MONDO, it is supposed to be getting relaid this year
So it is not surprising that PJ & MD ran faster in Perth.
Sevastocrator the Bolt and MJ reference was not in reference to your post but earlier ones…we posted at the same time. My question to you was in the second post and it still stands if your athlete/s run 0.2s faster as a coach how will you decide upon what has been the result of good preparation and the track being run on?
spike
As you know there are a number of different factors that can contribute to a personal best performance, including; preparation, peaking, track quality, location, wind conditions, quality competition, overall physical and mental conditions on the day, local competition, interstate or international competition etc. As a coach one would need to factor in all applicable factors and then make a call.
Sevastocrator,
and some people think coaching is easy…Well good luck with your athlete’s hopefully we see lots of great performances from both Track and Field and the results saturates the media over that time period.
Those runs were at the Olympics and world championships. That’s a little more reliable than some random meet.
spike
Thanks, you too.
I just happen to watch PJ’s 100m and 200m performances from Melbourne (SBS Channel). I have to mention him in this discussion because apart from him and Davies no other sprinter ran in Perth recently (and at that point in time). ARS has not run at the meet in Melbourne, and Lawal has not run in Perth yet. It leaves me with PJ only.
At this stage I’d like to think the track (and good tail wind) in Perth may largely contribute to some outstanding recent performances. If one thinks peaking and periodisation plays a major role, taking PJ’s example, I’d like to point out the following;
- PJ has specifically moved to Perth closer to this track - apparently because the track is the fastest in Australia
- he has run his fastest time in years on that particular track
- immediately after this run he ran 10.40+ in Melbourne, and prior (from memory) - 10.40-10.60
- the meet in Perth was not of major significance (meaning he would not have peaked for that meet)
- being a seasoned athlete one would expect him to be more consistent if he was having an above ordinary season (volatility in results rarely happens when one is in a top notch form)
Now, Let’s take ARS and Lawal into consideration, as well.
-
If ARS repeats his performance at the Nationals (peak?) and runs faster or as fast (let’s take under 10.30) when having the best competition around himself, I’d say he is in a good form;
-
Lawal has not run in Perth yet and his best time (this season) is 10.33 (if I am right) - pretty much similar to ARS’s previous PB. I saw both of them last year when Lawal ran 10.29 (fastest in AUS last year) and on one more occasion (can’t remember the results anymore). Lawal seems to me a faster runner than ARS (or at least until now). Now, if Lawal runs in Perth at the Nationals and beats PJ and ARS in his PB time of anywhere from 10.10-10.20 (PB 10.29 - 0.20 the Perth track factor), it will only confirm that the track is the fastest in AUS. PJ and ARS would need to back up their performances (10.18 and 10.17) to make this argument valid.
If this eventuates, what I would like to see is any of the mentioned sprinters back up their performances at any other track anywhere in AUS or in the world.
Is this realistic to expect from the above athletes?
PJ is 37-38 y.o. and his clock is ticking away. Lawal is over 30 himself. So, it all comes down to Davies and ARS (youngest) to prove that they can run fast (qualifiers) on any other track. Once that happens - I’d say - $hit, it is talent, proper training and periodisation, indeed!
Until that happens, I will be looking forward for my athletes to run (fast) in Perth, too
Just airing some wind.