TIM WATT reports from the race walking scene, an area of the sport struggling to live up to its past glory days.
THE final RWA title of the year takes place this Sunday - the RWA 50km championships, held as for the last two years from Earls Colne Country Club in Essex.
Though a bit out of the way, the course is flat and traffic-free with the only distraction along the straight upand- down roadway likely to be low flying golf balls and light aircraft taking off from the airfield perpendicular to the roadway.....
Athletics Weekly, 7 September 2006
Diniz and Riguado’s day in Leamington Spa
Leamington Spa, UK - The midsummer sun and temperatures of up to 29C led to a high attrition rate in the seventh Leamington Spa Grand Prix of Race Walking yesterday (17 June).iaaf.org, 16 June 2006
Leamington Spa Race Walking Grand Prix - Preview
Race walkers from 18 countries are to compete in the seventh Royal Leamington Spa Grand Prix of Race Walking. The event in the central English town on Saturday 17 June includes a junior and senior international team competition - and provides opportunities for European Championships and the World Junior qualifying times, as well as being a rehearsal for next year’ European Cup of Race Walking.iaaf.org, 16 June 2006
Sokolova retains her title – Junior 10km women, La Coruña
La Coruña, Spain - Russia’s Vera Sokolova retained the women's Junior World Race Walking Cup 10km title in a championship record of 44:49, as a result of a devastating burst of speed in the final 200m.The Chuvash eighteen-year-old also reasserted her domestic dominance, finishing three seconds clear of 15-year-old Aleksandra Kudryashova, reversing their order in the Russian Winter Championships in Adler earlier this year.
iaaf.org, 14 May 2006
Turava prevents total Russian domination - 20km Women
La Coruña, Spain - A cosmopolitan atmosphere and temperate conditions on the first day of the 22nd World Race Walking Cup on the streets of La Coruña were ideal for fast times. Indeed, Ryta Turava from Belarus was bold enough to suggest she could take Olimpiada Ivanova's World record on the seaside course as well as reverse the team domination enjoyed by the Russians in race walking World Cups.iaaf.org, 13 May 2006
Morozov start-to-finish - Junior Men's 10km race
La Coruña, Spain - Russian juniors dominate the rankings from times walked ahead of this race, and Sergey Morozov lived up to his billing as the world's leading performer after a start-to-finish victory.iaaf.org, 13 May 2006
Athletes' Press Conference Quotes - World Race Walking Cup
La Coruña , Spain - The IAAF Press Conference to launch this weekend’s 22nd edition of the IAAF World Race Walking Cup was held today in Fundacíon Caixa Galicia, La Coruña.In attendance were IAAF President Lamine Diack, José Maria Odriozola, RFEA President, Esteban Lareo, City Councillor for Sport, and Pierre Weiss, IAAF General Secretary.
And the following stars of the Race Walking scene - Nathan Deakes (AUS), Olympic 20km bronze medallist, Francisco Javier Fernández (ESP), European champion, World & Olympic 20km silver medallist, Jefferson Pérez (ECU), double World 20km champion and defending World Cup winner, Jane Saville (AUS), Olympic 20km bronze medallist, and Claudia Stef (ROM) - 2006 IAAF Race Walking Challenge, current women’s standings leader.
iaaf.org, 12 May 2006
PREVIEW - Women’s 20km - La Coruña
Monte-Carlo – The 22nd IAAF World Race Walking Cup takes place this weekend in La Coruña, Spain, 13 – 14 May, where the senior women will race the 20km, a preview for which now follows....iaaf.org, 10 May 2006
PREVIEW - Men and Women’s Junior 10km - La Coruña
Monte-Carlo – The 22nd IAAF World Race Walking Cup takes place this weekend in La Coruña, Spain, 13 – 14 May. There will be two junior 10km races contested....iaaf.org, 10 May 2006
Zimmer develops a taste for medals ahead of La Coruña
“A very good day” is how 25-year-old German walker Sabine Zimmer summed up the 49th edition of the Coppa Sesto San Giovanni on 1 May.I didn’t expect third
The reserved but determined policewoman revealed an excitable side after climbing onto the podium at the penultimate IAAF Race Walking Challenge event of 2006, near Milan, Italy....
iaaf.org, 5 May 2006
Inspired by Radcliffe's presence, British focus on progress at La Coruña and beyond
With an eye to the future, particularly the London 2012 Olympic Games as well as the EAA European Cup of Race Walking to be hosted in the central England town of Leamington Spa in 2007, a very young team has been selected to represent Great Britain & Northern Ireland at the IAAF World Race Walking Cup in La Coruña, Spain, on 13-14 May.British walkers dominated the early editions of this event but with a gradual decline in standards relative to the rest of the World since the early 1990s (despite a recent increase in competitor numbers and of regular participants) the national team is currently in a period of rebuilding....
iaaf.org, 5 May 2006
Irish cautiously optimistic for La Coruña
It seems hard to imagine but at the last IAAF World Race Walking Cup two years ago in Naumburg, Germany, the Irish team placed higher in the men’s 20km team competition than the Mexicans. Irish race walking appeared to be progressing steadily but since Gillian O’Sullivan’s 8th placing in the women’s 20km at Naumburg no Irish walker has finished a major championship.But, with Colin Griffin's victory at the Podebradska Chuze 20km, Podebrady, Czech Republic, on 8 April and the prospect of returns from injury and illness, Irish race walking is now showing signs that it may return to the success it previously enjoyed...
iaaf.org, 26 April 2006
Feitor aims at two peaks - La Coruña and Gothenburg
Portugal’s Susana Feitor took the World Championship bronze medal in the women's 20km Race Walk in Helsinki last summer in a time of 1:28:44.The result was the culmination of a consistently successful 2005, in which she took second place in the Coppa Città di Sesto San Giovanni (Italy), fourth in the Grand Prix Internacional de Marcha Tijuana (Mexico), and a silver medal at the European Cup in Miskolc (Hungary). Her achievements for the season also gained her second place overall in the IAAF Race Walking Challenge...
iaaf.org, 20 April 2006
French squad seeking Torino esprit de corps at La Coruña
The French 50km team produced one of the biggest surprises in recent IAAF World Race Walking Cup history by winning the second place team award at the 20th edition of the biannual event at Turin in 2002.On that occasion, the trio of Denis Langlois, Eddy Riva and Pascal Servanty defeated the normally stronger nations of China, Australia, as well as the hosts Italy...
iaaf.org, 19 April 2006
Saville, not resting on her laurels, looks forward to La Coruna finale
On 20 March in Melbourne, Australia’s Olympic women's 20km race walking bronze medallist Jane Saville seems almost certain to match the likes of athletics greats such as Don Quarrie of Jamaica and England’s Daley Thompson in winning three consecutive gold medals in Commonwealth Games...iaaf.org, 16 March 2006
Russian team for La Coruña is selected from outstanding ‘Winter Champs’
The places for the Russian team for the IAAF World Race Walking Cup, have been decided from the outstanding performances achieved in the National Winter Championships, held at the Black Sea resort of Adler near the city of Sochi over the weekend of 19-20 February.iaaf.org, 1 March 2006