Ethiopia’s Tigist Tufa ends Kenyan dominance

Twenty six miles later and the 37,500 people that took place in today’s London Marathon are all done!

Everyone maybe talking about record holder Paula Radcliffe who ran her final race in two hours 36 minutes 55 seconds but Lollipop would prefer to talk about the winner. Ethiopia’s Tigist Tufa made beating Kenya’s two-time London winner Mary Keitany look easy as she sprinted clear to finish in  two hours twenty three minutes twenty two seconds. With three miles to go Tufa and compatriot Tirfi Tsegaye broke away from the rest, the champ then moved 18 seconds clear to win.

The 28-year-old was a surprise winner as only the ninth-fastest in the field but looking at her previous success maybe she should not have been.

Tuga has won major marathons in her career most recently the 2014 Shanghai Marathon where she set a new course record and a personal best time of  two hours twenty one minutes and fifty two seconds.

But today our champ set a new career high. Her major win ended four years of domination by Kenya’s women in the capital.

Despite Kenya’s victory in the men’s race with Eliud Kipchoge finishing ahead of last years winner and record holder Wilson Kipsang in a time of two hours four minutes 42 seconds the women could not complete the country’s domination.

Lollipop believes this could be the start of a new rivalry in women’s marathon racing as more and more runners step up their game to compete with Kenya’s greatest athletes.

The race had been billed as a four-way fight between a quartet of Kenyans: defending champion Edna Kiplagat, two-time former champion Keitany, half-marathon world record holder Florence Kiplagat and Priscah Jeptoo, the winner in 2013.

Champion Tufa had barely been mentioned in the build-up, but the slow pace played into her hands and she produced a 25th mile of 5mins 07secs to beat her rivals.

Last year former champ Kiplagat finished in two hours twenty minutes twenty one seconds – five minutes short of Radcliffe’s record breaking time. The race was much quicker but the sluggish start today made things more competitive. When speaking to BBC Sport even Tufa said: “The weather was very difficult for me and I found it a very slow race until the end and I was pushed.”

So the weather may have weakened Kenya’s defence but it did not stop a record breaking amount of entrants running the marathon this year.

Whether it was down to Paula’s last appearance or the This Girl Can campaign women were running in force today.

The oldest woman running in 2015 was Iva Barr, 87, born 23 October 1927 and the youngest was Paige Brown, 18 years two days, born 24 April 1997.

Lollipop would like to congratulate them all. They may not be the Kenyan or Ethiopian elites but they took part. Gold medals all round.

Defeat for Manchester Thunder but success for Netball Superleague

So a day has passed since the Superleague Semi-final where Lollipop and I watched Manchester Thunder fall to Hertfordshire Mavericks in front of a record- breaking crowd at the Manchester Arena 41-48.

It meant that the 2014 champions failed to make the final that would have been a repeat of last year’s thrilling encounter against Surrey Storm who saw off Yorkshire Jets 76-60 in the other tie.

Instead it was a dominant Hertfordshire Mavericks that clinched a place at next Saturday’s final. Despite the loss the team were thrilled to have played in front of 4,100 spectators.

Captain Sara Bayman said: “I would love to play at the arena again. We walked out of the changing rooms and the noise was incredible.

“I don’t think we expected it to be as good as it was and the Manchester public come out in force for sporting events and today was not different.

“We feel disappointed to not seal this event with a victory and for the fans, but hopefully we put on a good enough game for them to see and to come again.”

The match reflected both the growing popularity of netball and women’s sports as Sky Sports broadcasted the match live.

Coach Tracey Neville said she was proud and honoured to be sharing in what she hoped would be Thunder’s home venue in the future.

But after such a devastating defeat will Manchester City Council stay behind our team Lollipop?

Before the match Councillor Rosa Battle, Manchester City Council executive member for culture and leisure said: “Manchester Thunder’s players are local sporting heroes and we should all be proud of their success.”

Thunder were unbeaten throughout the entire Supereague season and were Netball Superleague champions 2012 and 2014.

For that alone the girls deserved to play at such an iconic venue.

Manchester has been hooked on the girls progress with The Wright Robinson Centre aka The Thunderdome regularly sold out at each home fixture.

Yesterdays feisty encounter was the perfect advert for UK Netball. By the start of the final quarter the teams were level at 35-35. Lollipop could barely watch as a miss by GS Helen Housby allowed Mavericks to capitalise 35-36. They soon pulled away from Thunder as they slowly imploded and Shooter Sasha Corbin netted her side to victory.

Coach Tracey Neville was scathing of her players and said: “I think that performance has been coming in the last few weeks and you get found out by an experienced team.

“Mavericks played their best netball and beat us. Frankly, we didn’t deserve to win that game.”

Thunder were deflated but Mavericks could go on to make Netball just as popular at London’s Copperbox next Saturday.

Third place is still up for grabs for Thunder as they play Northern rivals Yorkshire Jets but success for women’s sport has already been achieved thanks to Lollipop and the other few thousand that turned up last night.

Manchester Thunder starting 7: Kerry Almond GK, Emma Dovey GD, Laura Malcolm WD, Sara Bayman C, Chelsea Pittman WA, Kathryn Turner GA, Helen Housby GS. Substitute: Jodie Gibson GD.

Oxford women make Boat Race History

On the day of the 168^th Grand National, Premier league football and the Masters 2015 there was just one sport that mattered to Lollipop. The Women’s Boat Race 2015.

Throughout the 70 years of the women’s contest the two august universities have never been permitted to race on the same course as the men and on the same day in front of a live television audience. Until today Lollipop. Today huge crowds watched in awe as the two teams rowed the 374 yards of the River Thames from Putney Bridge to Chiswick Bridge. Touted favourites Oxford finished six-and-a-half lengths ahead of rivals Cambridge.

The Dark Blues were half a length up after the first minute and ruthlessly rowed ahead to finish 19 seconds clear.

The win marked a seventh success in eight for Oxford in the 70th staging of the women’s race. But this one was different as those previous victories were on a straight 2000m course at Henley not over the Thames with a gusty wind against the tide for the ladies to battle against.

The Oxford girls made it look easy but the race for equality was far from it. “It’s a really special moment, something I’ve been working towards for three years,” Oxford president Anastasia Chitty told BBC Sport.

“It’s even more special because so many women [have] not had this opportunity so it’s really humbling.”

The change began four years ago when Newton Investment Management offered the women’s race a modest sponsorship package – the first in its history. But Chief Executive Helena Morrisey wanted more.

Her demands were simple: move the women’s race to the championship course on the Tideway alongside the men’s and give both equal funding or the deal is off.

“We didn’t just want a name on a shirt; we wanted to do something meaningful,” Morrisey told the New York Times.

After initial reticence from the old boys of each institution, an agreement was reached on a five-year deal starting in 2012.

For years the Boat race has been all about the men but today the women finally had the chance to turn things around.

In Tokyo A women’s group held its first “Equal Pay Day” rally on April 10 by raising public awareness over the wage gap between genders.

The Tokyo-based National Federation of Business and Professional Women’s Clubs of Japan organized the event to highlight the fact that Japanese males who work full time, on average, receive 329,600 yen ($2,740) per month, while females receive 238,000 yen, or just over 70 percent of that figure,

In America women are also fighting for equal pay and equal rights as Winner of Best supporting Actress at the Oscars Patricia Arquette injected some political fervour into the ceremony by calling for equal pay for women at the end of her speech.

All over the world women are still fighting for the same thing. Equality. So for Lollipop today was not just about a Boat Race between two posh universities. It was about a barrier being broken for women everywhere.

Money or popularity clearly is not an issue as thousands came to watch the annual boat race. Nothing is stopping Lollipop now from rowing up the River Thames although she may need some training first.