Tuatara beaten again

The Auckland Tuatara went down 6-1 to the Perth Heat yesterday afternoon, to lose their opening series of the season 3-1. Hitting problems continued for the Tuatara, with just two runs coming in this game at North Harbour Stadium and making a grand total of just 10 over this four-game series. By comparison, the Heat had 26 hits. Only Jared Walker from the United States and Kiwi Andrew Marck have looked good batting for the Tuatara during this series, but there must be hope in the clubhouse that the others will come right. The Tuatara’s run came in the sixth inning when they had the bases loaded and no outs. After the first two batters struck out, Max Brown was walked to bring in a run, but that was the one only one they got as Max Brown grounded out to third base.

Pioneering marathon runner Eliud Kipchoge, left, and American hurdler Dalilah Muhammad were named the world athletes of the year in track and field yesterday. Kipchoge became the first man to run a subtwo-hour marathon, though the feat wasn’t officially recognized as a world record. That’s because he ran on his own, with a rotating group of pacemakers and in strictly controlled conditions. Kipchoge’s only competitive race this year came when he won the London Marathon in April. Muhammad won the world championship 400m hurdles in world record time. She earlier broke the record in July at the US championships. World 5000m silver medallist Selemon Barega, of Ethiopia, was named male rising star of the year, while Ukrainian high jump silver medallist Yaroslava Mahuchikh was the female rising star.