Fifty years ago today (September 19) the inaugural women’s race took place at the New York City Marathon, with Beth Bonner winning in 2hr 55min 22sec - a world record.

Travis Tygart, head of the US Anti-Doping Agency, has written an op-ed commentary piece for the New York Times this week asserting that Russia should be “indefinitely banned” from all international sporting competition if doping allegations during the Sochi 2014 Winter Games are proven - allegations that, if substantiated, he regards as a “violation of the very essence of sport".

There was news from the International Association of Athletics Federations this week which, while it may not have stirred the world’s media organisations into frantic response, will nevertheless have brought satisfaction to a significant proportion of the sport’s hard-core following – that is, athletics geeks.

The celebrations which marked the 50th Anniversary running of Oslo’s Bislett Games offered many great athletes the opportunity to reflect on the days of their youth. As the cavalcade of classic open-topped Ford Mustangs made its slow circuit of the Bislett Stadium track before the main meeting began, the waving passengers – John Walker, Roger Moens, Javier Sotomayor, Jan Zelezny, Ingrid Kristiansen, Henry Rono - received warm waves of applause. For many of those rising in acclaim, these middle aged but still largely trim and athletic figures had created indelible memories on this oval patch of ground.

No one was applauding more warmly than Svein Arne Hansen, recently elected President of European Athletics, who has been involved in every Bislett Games since 1965 in various forms, serving as meeting director from 1985 to 2009.