The Lufbra Echo rounds up all that has been going down in the world of athletics in the past 48 hours
WORLD CROSS COURSE TO BE ALTERED
The course at this weekend's World Cross Country Championships will be changed after African federations complained that it was "too interesting". The IAAF held a crisis meeting late last night to discuss the issue and have apologised for the blunder. "We realise now that the Africans cannot be expected to run over muddy courses," said a spokesman, "in the spirit of all previous events we will now be running the races on a flat, mud-free field that has been kept under cover for the entire winter. We would like to express our sincere apologies for the distress that we have caused Mr. Bekele and all his fellow athletes."
BOLT IN PLANE SCARE
World 100 and 200m world record holder, Usain Bolt has been hailed as a hero after he took control of a Jamaican Airlines Boeing 737 just minutes before it was about to plunge into the ocean. The sprint ace was flying home from a training trip in the US when both of the pilots reacted badly to some marijuana that they had been smoking. Bolt (who is also a qualified doctor, lawyer and all round great guy who is doing his best for the sport and we should appreciate that) strolled into the cockpit and landed the aircraft safely. A spokesman praised Bolt's bravery but also said that he showed poor sportsmanship, "he could be heard celebrating on the radio before the wheels had hit the tarmac," said the source, "and afterwards he didn't shake any one's hand- just did a strange dance."
TWELL 'GOING OFF THE RAILS': INSIDER
Stephanie Twell, the "new Paula Radcliffe" (after Emily Pidgeon but before Charlotte Purdue and Emelia Gorecka) has been seen throwing full bottles of beetroot juice out of her home, sources have revealed. It is also rumoured that the distance hope has been cooking her broccoli before eating it and not wearing her Garmin when doing tempo runs. An insider at Twell's St. Mary's base told of how coach Mick Woods was "gravely concerned". "Steph couldn't even complete her track session of 100x400m with 30 seconds recovery yesterday," he said, "and she only called Mick 8 times on Monday....it's a sorry state of affairs." These revelations come just days after Woods was left reeling by the news that Andy Vernon had eaten a sandwich with butter in it. A close friend of the fiery Aldershot coach said, "Mick is keeping his chin up and hoping his guys and girls will do the business in Poland [at the World Cross]".
ATHLETE QUITS SPORT AFTER SOMEONE 'WASN'T VERY NICE' TO HIM
A long distance runner who has asked to remain nameless has walked away from the sport because some people were critical of his training patterns. The male athlete, who ran 375 miles per week, said "it was awful- I was warming down from a race and some guy came up to me and said 'I think you might be over training'. I was so hurt that I couldn't even finish my 24 mile cool down." The promising youngster, who also claims to have excelled at rugby, football, sailing, chess, cricket, diving, swimming, darts and archery was critical of the fact that he had to pay to use his local track "like normal people". "It was outrageous," said the former star, "how dare they treat me like that. I had to pay for food as well, you know!"
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