The marathon star’s new initiative aims to help youngsters start out in the sport

Paula Radcliffe hopes that her new Families on Track initiative will help youngsters to find a love for running that they might not otherwise have discovered.

The former world marathon record-holder was left shocked by statistics uncovered by a recent study conducted by the RunFestRun running festival and Families on Track relating to family activity, with the aim of the two events to offer opportunities for parents and their children to complete set distances in a fun and inclusive environment.

“Some of the stats that we found as part of this launch for RunFestRun showed up that only 22% of parents spend time exercising and being active with their kids but 49% would spend time watching TV with them,” Radcliffe says. “And one in six parents never exercise with their kids.

“It’s shocking, really, when you’ve grown up involved with sport and seeing all the benefits that sport can bring, at whatever level you do it.

“It’s all about encouraging families to have fun running together, exercising together and spending some quality time together as well.”

RunFestRun also encourages families to get active together with a three-day programme of runs taking place at Windsor Great Park on May 22-24 and Radcliffe will again be joined by her two children on the ‘butterfly’ team at this year’s event.

“That combination of the music and the festival with running, they were taking part in all sorts of events and loved the whole team atmosphere,” Radcliffe says.

On inspiring a new generation of runners, she adds: “I’m convinced that’s the biggest reason why we see countries like Kenya and Ethiopia have such a huge amount of running success at elite level, just because it pretty much is their national sport and it’s the sport that every kid goes into.

“Regularly (in the UK) we see people come and get their first taste of running in their late 20s or even 30s and 40s and actually find it’s something they are really good at and enjoy and wish they had found sooner.”

Chants of "Nazis Out" could be heard in stadiums across Germany over the weekend as supporters held a minute's silence for the victims of the Hanau terror attack.

On Wednesday, a 43-year-old German opened fire and nine killed people in a shisha bar within the city's Muslim community and later at another location. The man was subsequently found dead at his home next to the body of his mother.

- ESPN+ obtains Bundesliga rights from 2020

German football paid homage to the victims and anti-Nazi chanting could be heard at several top-tier stadiums, including Werder Bremen's Weserstadion and Hertha Berlin's Olympiastadion.

A banner made by Bayern Munich supporters and held aloft before their 3-2 victory over Paderborn on Friday read: "Nazis are murdering and all of us watch. That's the German core culture."

While, during their 2-0 defeat at home to Borussia Dortmund, Bremen fans displayed a banner with the words: "Remembering the 209 people killed by far-right violence. Stop right-wing terror!"

The protests and minute's silence for the victims of the recent terror attacks reached down into the lower tiers of German football.

In Berlin's regional division, several clubs took to the field with bi-lingual "It's Enough!" banners in German and Turkish, listing some of the far-right murders against people with Turkish background underneath.

"In football, inside the stadium and outside, hate, xenophobia and racism have no chance," DFB president Fritz Keller told German TV station ARD on Saturday.

There has been a rise of racist incidents in German football in recent months. Last March, Germany internationals Ilkay Gundogan and Leroy Sane were targeted by two men who racially abused the Manchester City players.

At a recent cup match, Hertha Berlin defender Jordan Torunarigha said he was racially abused by parts of the home supporters at Schalke 04's Veltins Arena.

Real Madrid winger Eden Hazard will be sidelined for the remainder of the La Liga season, Belgium national team coach Robert Martinez has said.

Hazard, who returned on Feb. 16 from an ankle injury that had kept him out of action since November, suffered a fracture to his right distal fibula during Real Madrid's 1-0 loss at Levante on Saturday.

Madrid have not commented on how long Hazard will be out for, but when asked about the Belgium captain's latest injury, Martinez told reporters: "We are very sad, because this injury will leave him out of action for at least three months.

"A footballer like Eden should always be on the pitch. We have an excellent communication with Real Madrid's medical staff and we are anxious about Eden.

"It's a shame, because it has also happened before an important game as that of Manchester City."

Injuries have limited Hazard to only 15 games in all competitions since joining Los Blancos from Chelsea in a £150 million move last summer.

Madrid host City in a Champions League round-of-16 first leg on Wednesday.

Australia 5 for 123 (Haynes 60, Lanning 41*, Prabodhani 2-17, Siriwardene 2-20) beat Sri Lanka 6 for 122 (Atapattu 50, Sanjeewani 25, Carey 2-18, Strano 2-23) by five wickets

Australia are not playing well at all. Australia are still in the T20 World Cup. These two truths were undeniable at the end of a white-knuckle encounter with Sri Lanka at the WACA Ground, which on several occasions looked like being the day in which Meg Lanning's No. 1-ranked side were eliminated at the first available opportunity.

Sri Lanka, having also lost their opening fixture, had never beaten Australia in a T20I but got closer than most anybody expected. Putting up a sound total and defending it desperately has been a more than useful strategy so far in this tournament, and at 3 for 10, the hosts were in all sorts of trouble thanks to the swing of Udeshika Prabodhani.

Lanning and Rachael Haynes put together a partnership, however, and they were given what turned out to be much-needed assistance by both the umpires - not ruling Lanning caught behind when she was on 15 - and the Sri Lankans, who dropped both Australia's captain and deputy when the game could easily have swung back their way. In the end Australia scrambled to victory with three balls to spare. They are still in the tournament, but they have plenty of improving to do.

Atapattu brings the class

Having never lost to Sri Lanka in 16 matches across formats, Australia had to be wary of Chamari Atapattu after her glorious 103 in an ODI in Brisbane in October. Megan Schutt broke through early, having found some of her trademark new-ball swing away from the left-hand opener Hasini Perera, but otherwise Lanning's team could not find a way to confound Atapattu before she had given Sri Lanka a serviceable start in conditions that, in considerable breeze and on a fresh, fastish pitch, had plenty to offer the bowlers.

Critically, Atapattu gained some handy support from Nos. 3, 4 and 5 as Umesha Thimashini, Anushka Sanjeewani and Nilakshi de Silva all contributed. Their innings were at varying degrees of fluency, Thimashini most striking in her cover drives off Ellyse Perry, but they ensured that once Atapattu departed, caught at extra cover the ball after she was very nearly run out, the Sri Lankan effort was not to peter out entirely.

Strano's costly 19th over

Retained in the team after being a surprise choice for the opener against India, Molly Strano did not share the new ball this time but still had a key role bowling in the middle of the innings and then returning at the death. Her dismissals of Sanjeewani and Ama Kanchana in the same over were moments in which it felt as though Australia were taking control of proceedings, but in her final over of the innings, Strano erred full and then short.

This allowed de Silva to drive and pull a pair of priceless fours, making the 19th over of the innings the most expensive of all at a cost of 12. In a low-scoring and pressure-filled game, these runs were vital for Sri Lanka and troubling for the Australians, pushing their required rate in the chase beyond a run-a-ball.

Prabodhani does a Vaas

It is more than 20 years since Chaminda Vaas set-up Sri Lanka's first ever Test victory over Australia by swinging the new ball around corners in Kandy. There was something similarly memorable about the way Prabodhani curled the white ball into the stumps of Alyssa Healy and Ashleigh Gardner at the start of Australia's chase, raising the anxiety of the hosts.

Both Healy and Gardner are in the top order to go on the attack, and as such their gates are more open to the inswinger than some others. But it was still a transfixing sight to see the new ball curling back through their somewhat crooked defences in the midst of a new-ball spell from Prabodhani. She was to bowl her full allotment of overs in the one spell, by which time Australia were a wobbly 3 for 27, with Shashikala Siriwardene turning the ball sharply at the other end.

Haynes, Lanning scramble home with help

Facing an equation that was dialled up from manageable to tricky, and a moving ball, Lanning and Haynes benefited from plenty of good fortune even as they showed more solid defences than Healy and Gardner. Lanning was facing her second ball when she played and missed and Sri Lanka reviewed for caught behind - revealing that the bat had brushed the wicketkeeper's gloves rather than the ball. On 15, Lanning was caught behind cutting, but this time given not out, and then she was to be dropped by Sanjeewani when on 33.

Haynes, who took on a more aggressive posture in the partnership, was most vitally dropped on 26 just as the required rate had begun to spiral away from Australia. Duly revived, she was able to connect with the big leg-side shots off left-arm spin that have become something of a trademark, taking 18 runs off the 16th over to pull back the asking rate from 8.8 an over to a far more manageable 6.5 in one fell swoop. From there, Australia wobbled further, but got over the line. Lanning's clenched fist after diving for the winning run said it all.

Toss Bangladesh won the toss and elected to bowl v India

Bangladesh won the toss in their first match of the T20 World Cup and elected to bowl against India. Bangladesh had beaten Pakistan in their only warm-up game before the start of the tournament and captain Salma Khatun said they would bring the confidence from that to open their campaign, becoming the last team from Group A to do so. A win in Monday's game will be their first one in the T20 World Cup since 2014.

India captain Harmanpreet Kaur said her team had been looking to bat first anyway in a bid to put on a decent score, but revealed a significant detail that would make that task harder - opening batter Smriti Mandhana was out with a viral fever. She was replaced by 16-year-old Richa Ghosh, although it was not clear whether Ghosh would slot straight into Mandhana's spot, with wicketkeeper Taniya Bhatia also an option to open the batting. The rest of the line-up remained unchanged from their win against Australia.

India: Shafali Verma, Taniya Bhatia, Jemimah Rodrigues, Harmanpreet Kaur, Deepti Sharma, Richa Ghosh, Veda Krishnamurthy, Shika Pandey, Arundhati Reddy, Poonam Yadav, Rajeshwari Gayakwad

Bangladesh: Murshida Khatun, Shamima Sultana, Sanjida Islam, Nigar Sultana Joty, Fargana Hoque, Rumana Ahmed, Salma Khatun, Fahima Khatun, Jahanara Alam, Panna Ghosh, Nahida Akter

Crimson cruise to 83rd consecutive victory
By CSA Reporters 

Top seeds Harvard created history as they claimed a record sixth straight Howe Cup by winning the College Squash Association women’s Team Championship after beating No.2 seeds Princeton 6-1 in the final at Yale, with two rubbers not played once the result was confirmed.

The Howe Cup is coming back to Cambridge after top-ranked Harvard women’s squash beat No. 2 Princeton, 6-1, in the national championship match.

The Crimson (17-0, 7-0 Ivy) completed its fifth-straight undefeated season en route to its sixth consecutive national championship trophy. The match, held at Yale’s Brady Squash Center, resulted in the 83rd consecutive victory for Harvard, which stands as a CSA record.

Harvard earned its 20th Howe Cup after posting five straight points, starting with Hana Moataz at the third position. The sophomore’s 3-0 victory – and 14th win of the season – gave the Crimson a quick 1-0 lead. First-year Charlotte Orcutt added an impressive win at the ninth position to put her team on top 2-0.

Amina Yousry followed in her teammates footsteps, downing her opponent, 3-1, at the fourth spot. Co-captain Gina Kennedy’s shutout at the top pairing on the ladder put the Crimson on top, 4-0, and in a position to clinch.

Junior Hannah Craig was the deciding-point-winner, as she came away with the 3-0 victory at the seventh position to secure the match for Harvard.

Amelia Henley’s 3-0 decision at the second pairing brought the Crimson total to six before the match was called.

Harvard’s 2019-20 season ends with another national title in the trophy case and another win on the already impressive resume of Mike Way, the Gregory Lee ’87 and Russell Ball ’88 Endowed Coach for Harvard University, James Herscot ’58 Coach of Excellence.

Harvard Highlights
– Harvard finishes the season undefeated for the fifth straight season and improved its CSA-record winning streak to 83 matches.
– The Crimson is 28-2 in Howe Cup play under the leadership of Mike Way.
– The Crimson has won its past 16 matches at Yale’s Squash facility.
– Gina Kennedy, Amelia Henley, Eleonore Evans and Annika Engstrom became the fifth Harvard class to graduate with four Howe Cups.
– Amelia Henley ends her Harvard career with a perfect 52-0 record in dual-match play.
– Gina Kennedy ends her Harvard career on a 40-match winning streak.
– Women’s Squash finishes the season with a combined individual record of 139-12.
– Hannah Craig and Evans both completed perfect seasons, posting a 17-0 record in 2019-20.

Next Up
The team completed its regular season campaign, but members of the team are still set to compete in the Individual National Championships at Penn in two weeks. Draws and tournament information will be released the week of the tournament. 

2020 CSA National Collegiate Women’s Team Championships, Yale College, New Haven, Connecticut, USA.

Harvard 6 Princeton 1 (two rubbers not played):
Gina Kennedy def. Elle Ruggiero, 3-0 (11-3, 11-2, 11-8)
Amelia Henley def. Raneem El Torky, 3-0 (11-9, 11-4, 11-7)
Hana Moataz def. Emme Leonard, 3-0 (11-5, 11-5, 11-9)
Amina Yousry def. Caroline Spahr, 3-1 (12-10, 12-10, 9-11, 11-0)
Eleonore Evans vs. Andrea Toth, DNP
M. Grace Doyle def. Maddie Chai, 3-1 (11-8, 11-8, 9-11, 11-5)
Hannah Craig def. Morgan Steelman, 3-0 (11-4, 13-11, 11-5)
Evie Coxon vs Emily Rose, DNP
Charlotte Orcutt def. India Stephenson, 3-1 (11-3, 11-6, 7-11, 11-3) 

+ College Squash Association report to follow

Pictures by MICHAEL BELLO courtesy of College Squash Association 

Prop Rory Sutherland says Stuart Hogg has made a "fantastic" job of stepping up to captain Scotland and proved it with his wonder try against Italy.

Hogg conjured a sensational solo score to set Scotland on their way to a win.

The blistering effort in Rome followed high-profile errors in defeats to Ireland and England that had some asking whether Hogg was being weighed down by the pressures of his new role.

"He's been flung in the deep end and done really well," said Sutherland.

"A lot of people have been talking about Hoggy's mistakes but he's made a fantastic jump into that captain's role.

"I don't like it when people talk about his mistakes because you've got to look at what he's done for Scotland. Hoggy's done a hell of a lot and he deserves to be where he is.

"I'm really pleased to see him back on form and getting that try."

Sutherland delivered another solid display in the front row to continue his impressive form since being brought back from the international wilderness as Scotland picked up their first win of the campaign.

After three injury-ravaged years, the 27-year-old Edinburgh prop has become a key cog in a much-improved scrum, and the win in the Stadio Olimpico was his first taste of victory in a Scotland jersey for some time.

"The last one was four years ago in Japan - it feels really good," Sutherland said.

"I'm just grateful to be given the chance to be back involved. On a personal level, I've been really happy with my performances and I've just got to keep a bit of consistency in my game now and keep backing it up.

"When I was injured it was always something that kept me going, I was thinking about playing for Scotland again. That was the goal. Putting little goals in place to reach that final goal.

"I've had a couple of tough seasons, I've not played a lot of rugby but I feel I've taken the opportunities that I've been given. It's nice to be back at this level and playing some good rugby.

"Hopefully I get another opportunity in that starting jersey against France."

Midfielder Bruno Fernandes can help unlock the potential of Manchester United's attack much like Paul Scholes and Juan Sebastian Veron did during their days at Old Trafford, manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has said.

Fernandes, who joined United in January for an initial fee of €55 million, scored his first goal for the club on Sunday as he placed a cool penalty past Ben Foster in a 3-0 Premier League win over Watford.

The Portugal international provided the assist for Mason Greenwood's goal and also played a part in Anthony Martial's.

"Bruno has come in to be a very important player ... now we've got the No.10 or attacking midfielder nailed down. Hopefully, he'll keep fit and keep producing performances," Solskjaer told a news conference."

United have struggled for a creative spark in midfield this season, with record signing Paul Pogba injured for much of it, and Solskjaer said Fernandes can step up in the France international's absence.

"He's similar to Veron and Scholes," he said. "We've needed that type of player. He knows he's here to play.

"One of the good things about him is he takes risks with the ball, like Veron."

The win on Sunday lifted United to fifth in the league with 41 points from 27 games, three points behind fourth-placed Chelsea.

United travel to Everton on Sunday after hosting Club Brugge in the second leg of their Europa League round-of-32 clash on Thursday. The first leg ended 1-1.

Ireland head coach Andy Farrell says he needs to examine the part he played in his side's 24-12 defeat to England in their Six Nations game at Twickenham.

Ireland trailed 17-0 at half-time and despite improving after the break, their hopes of winning a Grand Slam or the Triple Crown ended by the loss.

"I need to look at myself regarding the performance in the first half because obviously we weren't in the right area.

"We didn't play how we wanted to play until the game was over," said Farrell.

Defensive errors by captain Johnny Sexton and wing Jacob Stockdale allowed George Ford and Elliot Daly to cross for first-half tries and gift England tangible reward for their superiority, especially up front.

Sexton was unable to collect Ben Youngs' grubber kick behind his own try-line, allowing Ford to score, while Stockdale was shrugged off the ball by Daly, who grounded for England's second try.

Sexton also missed relatively straightforward kicks for a penalty and a conversion in the opening 40 minutes as any ambitions Ireland had of continuing their winning start to the tournament dissipated.

A second-half try from Robbie Henshaw and a late touchdown by replacement prop Andrew Porter gave the final score a somewhat flattering scoreline for the visitors.

Ireland do at least still retain hope of winning the title with games at home to Italy and away to unbeaten France still to come in March.

"We certainly didn't come out of the blocks - there was only one team that did that and that is bitterly disappointing," Farrell told ITV Sport after the match.

"We got a bit of a reaction in the second half but I thought England were excellent, they were fighting to stay in the championship.

"Every side will look at themselves physically and they certainly won that battle. That's disappointing for us because we try to pride ourselves on that sort of thing.

"We came off second best in that area and we didn't fire a shot in the first half."

'England put it up to us' - Sexton

Sexton agreed Ireland were left with plenty to ponder after the defeat, which followed victories over Scotland and Wales in their opening two games.

"We gave a very good team two tries from our mistakes and didn't cover the chip-kick, which we knew was going to come," said the Ireland fly-half.

"We were getting the ball on the back foot and trying to get the ball to the space on the edges but we couldn't get it there so we were made to look a bit silly at times.

"We have to have a look at a few things off the top of the line-out - we seemed to be past the midline of the line-out before we even got the ball. I'm not sure what was happening there but we need to try and be better.

"We need to try and not play in certain areas of the field when we are going backwards. We compounded a few errors and we have a lot to learn from.

"When you come to a place like Twickenham the atmosphere is incredible. Fair play to England, they put it up to us."

Ireland lie third in the Six Nations table, four points behind France and level on points with second-placed England.

"We have a big home game against Italy in a couple of weeks and if we can do the business there we still have a championship to play for so we have to pick ourselves up pretty quickly," added the Ireland skipper.