Adharanand Finn's Blog, page 10

McDonald's first vegetarian restaurant: a flash in the pan

What change does McDonald's newest initiative herald? Burger all, says Adharanand Finn

It's a bit like that time you were sitting in front of the TV and your favourite song suddenly came on, over the top of an advert for VW cars or Cathedral City cheese. I experienced the same conflicted feelings when I heard that McDonald's is to open a vegetarian restaurant.

As a lifelong vegetarian, I often proudly espouse the fact that I have never eaten in McDonald's. It's something that sets me apart from...

Kenya's David Rudisha is favourite for 800m, thanks to an Irish Brother

Brother Colm O'Connell, known as 'godfather of Kenyan running', was left astounded when Rudisha ran his first 800m

At 8pm on Thursday , the world's attention will turn towards a tall Kenyan runner called David Rudisha. The 23-year-old Maasai is the 800m world champion and world record holder, and the closest thing there is to a shoo-in for a gold medal on the track at the 2012 Games.

The question on the lips of commentators at the start of the 800m final will almost certainly not be whether he...

Olympian vegetarians

Lizzie Armitstead isn't the first athlete to achieve Olympic success on a non-meat diet. We raise a glass of vegetarian champagne to some of the best

Lizzie Armitstead was just 10 years old when she told her parents she wanted to become a vegetarian. Yesterday, she won Great Britain's first medal of the Olympic Games, taking silver in the gruelling 87-mile road cycling race, no less.

I was brought up as vegetarian from birth and have been a long distance runner for most of my adult life. One o...

London 2012: Kenya's runners aim to drag golden haul from the disarray

Kenyan athletes have revolted before London 2012 and their star runner was accused of stabbing a woman – but the African nation still dominates world distance running

Ordo ab chao – out of chaos, comes order. It is one of the oldest freemason mottos, attributed to the 14th century craft masons. In their own pursuit of world domination, it seems to be the motto the Kenyan Olympic team is adopting in 2012.

Kenyan runners have become a familiar sight on Olympic podiums ever since the great Kipchog...

Does music help you to run faster?

Adharanand Finn put it to the test at the UK's first rock'n'roll half-marathon in Edinburgh

'Music is a legal drug for athletes," claims Dr Costas Karageorghis, an expert on the effects of music on exercise, at Brunel University. In his latest book, Inside Sport Psychology, he claims that listening to music while running can boost performance by up to 15%.

If this is true, then the Rock'n'Roll marathon series is on to something. The events, a fixture in the US for almost 15 years, are...

Kenya's marathon men

What is the key to Kenya's phenomenal success in long-distance running? Sprinting to school and a hunger for success

'You want to know what the secret is? That there is no secret." Brother Colm O'Connell, a retired Irish priest and one of Kenya's top running coaches, is almost spitting with delight as he talks to me. We are standing in the grounds of St Patrick's school in Iten, Kenya. On the grass in front of us, his athletes are going through their warm-up drills. Among them is the...

Even a wrong number can lead you to a world-class runner in Kenya

Not every Kenyan is an elite athlete but, as Adharanand Finn discovers in the last of his blogs, those that can run probably will

I was walking along the street in Eldoret with a friend the other day when he bumped into someone he knew.

"Hey, meet James," he said to me. James looked like any other man in town that day, dressed in a shirt and smart trousers, his jacket too big for him, hanging off his shoulders. He smiled nervously and offered me a limp handshake.

"Are you an athlete?" I asked hi...

How Kenyan athletes help struggling local communities

Adharanand Finn visits Arusei Junior Academy with athlete Isaac Arusei, who started the school when its precursor was destroyed in post-election violence

Running through the quiet, picturesque countryside around Iten, it's hard to imagine the violence that was wreaked in the days following Kenya's last election at the end of 2007. Eldoret and the surrounding area was one of the main epicentres of ethnic violence that left 800 people dead and hundreds of thousands homeless.

In the town of Burnt...

Rising to the challenge of Kenya's 4,000ft half marathon

The Fluorspar run – a punishing route up a 21km slope – is a rite of passage for Kenyan athletes wishing to reach the top

It's a long way down. We're parked at the edge of the Rift Valley, looking out over the vast, faded mass of land stretched out below. In the back of the van are about 10 Kenyan runners, including David Barmasai, who a few months ago won the Dubai marathon (the most handsomely remunerated race in the world) and is part of the Kenyan team for the upcoming world championships....

Running with the Kenyans: Improvisation and brilliance in the Rift Valley

Some of the events may seem like a chaotic school sports day, but on the Kameriny Stadium track Adharanand Finn sees an astonishing display of speed

The small stand and the grassy banks that surround the Kameriny stadium in Iten are crowded with serious faces. Schoolchildren in ripped jumpers and long grey shorts are taking forever to line up the hurdles in the home straight. Their task is not helped by the flimsy hurdle stands, bits of rusted metal that keep falling out of their slots. To kee...