By Andy Schooler, Sportinglife.com, Edmonton

The friendly side of these championships surfaced once more today when the fastest man of earth arrived to watch the action.

Maurice Greene, who won the 100m title on Sunday, stopped to sign autographs and was promptly told one of his fans was celebrating her birthday.

The lucky girl, a delighted Naomi, was then the subject of a full version of Happy Birthday sung by the American sprint sensation.

Can you imagine David Beckham or Alan Shearer doing such a thing? I think not.

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Trevor ‘the turtle’ Misapeka has a rival in the slow stakes.

You may remember the American Samoan took 14.28 seconds to run the 100m last weekend.

But Alison Keogh, the only competitor here representing tiny Norfolk Island in the Pacific, almost ‘bettered’ that in the women’s 20km walk. She finished almost 41 minutes behind the winner and officials were fortunate she did take so long.

She was the only competitor left on the course when hurdles for the men’s 110m final were placed on the track with Keogh having no way of getting round.

However, she was so slow that they were cleared away before she appeared to receive a standing ovation from much of the crowd.

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There are an awful lot of media representatives present at the Commonwealth Stadium and it appears local wags have cottoned on to the fact.

Notices telling visiting members of the press corps about Edmonton’s famous 27-toed cat, Tiger, have appeared in the media centre.

I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.