Race Walking...

Welcome to the Race Walking page! Fixtures are held at different times in the week - Here you can find the latest fixtures and information for the 2010 season:

 

 

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SRWA Mens & Womens 20K Road Championships:

Dear All
The SRWA Men's & Women's 20k Road Championships will take place on Saturday 7th August 2010 @ 2pm from the Ford Social Club, Gardiners Lane, Basildon, Essex.
An entry form is attached and the closing date for entries is Monday 2nd August 2010.

Regards
Noel Carmody
Hon. Championship Sec.

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London  Vidarians 100 Miles on 7 & 8th August 2010.

Dear All,
I attach details and an entry form for this years 100 miles in 24 hours race at Colchester on 7th. & 8th. August 2010 starting at 2pm.
I would be very grateful if this could be circulated in the Essex Walker, the Race Walking Record and on the RWA website and Centurions website, and also to Continental clubs and to UK clubs
The London Vidarians WC is hosting the event in support of the Help for Heroes charity (Colchester is a garrison town) and we look forward to a good entry from those who wish to qualify as Centurions and from existing Centurions, both UK and Continental.
All offers of assistance would be gratefully received, both as Officials and as recorders, helpers, marshalls, refreshments, and supporters.

We look forward to a successful event.
Yours in Sport,

Chris,
President, London Vidarians Walking Club.

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Race at the historic Sir Roger Bannister Stadium, Oxford.
Wednesday 2 June, 2010

Hi all,
Short notice I know, but for the first time that just about anyone can remember, there is to be a walking race at the "Sir Roger Bannister Stadium", previously known as Iffley Road, Oxford - a 3000m, at 7:25 on Wednesday 2 June. This will be the Oxfordshire T&F Championships race, but it has been agreed that it will be open to guests from outside the area. The entry fee is £2 for both guests and championships. Guests will be able to turn up and enter on the night - anyone who is Oxfordshire qualified, or who wants to enter beforehand, can contact me (grahamchapman2003@hotmail.com) for a form. Guests are invited to join Oxfordshire walkers at the excellent "Fir Tree" hostelry in Iffley Road before their return journey.

If you want to find the track on runtrackdir.com, search for 'Iffley Road' rather than 'Oxford' or 'Bannister'. The listing is reasonably good, but the venue is not well signposted on the road, so be aware that the car park is on the south western side of the facility, accesed via Jackdaw Lane which leaves Iffley Road opposite the aforementioned 'Fir Tree'. It's not a huge car park, and not much space on nearby residential streets, leave plenty of time just in case. Entry is via the main sports complex reception.

The event is being timetabled as part of the annual Oxford "Town v Gown" match, so sorry, this time there will be no waiting for flag of St. George to stop fluttering in the breeze before the gun goes so that you can make your target time. They still fly that flag on the tower you can see in the photo on pages 12 and 13 of this week's Athletics Weekly, but races are no longer in black and white. Gentlemen of the press may wear tweeds and trilbies, photographers are invited to bring their Box Brownies, ladies of the press, sorry, you haven't been invented yet . . . . .

- Graham

 

BMAF WALKING

 To All Readers,

One for your diary.   The 500th Essex League Race is to be staged on Saturday 3rd July (2.30pm) at Redbridge Cycling Centre, Forest Road, Hainault, Essex.  IG6 3HP.   The circuit is at the eastern end (Hainault Forest end) of the very long Forest Road.

It had been billed as a 5 Miles race.   It's now reduced to 5 Kilometres, in keeping with the 300th and 400th Essex League races, which were both around the 3 miles/5 Kilometres mark, to encourage "one-off" comebacks by former Essex League competitors.

This is advance information...full details are to be published in the next issue of Essex Walker.   This venue has a large car park, and if full, there's plenty of quiet safe parking on the road outside.  

Public transport is good.   The nearest Underground station is Fairlop (Central Line) which is at the western end of Hainault Road.  However this means a one-and-half mile walk along Forest Road (no bus route).   Far better to alight at Hainault (Central Line), cross the road and get the 247 bus - which is a high-frequency service offering 10 minute intervals on Saturdays.   It's served by modern buses which call out each next stop.  Alight at the "Forest Road" stop...cross the dual carriageway and walk into Forest Road (5 mins walk at maximum).   The circuit is on your left-hand side.    Bus 247 can also be joined at Romford Station (Network Rail)...on leaving the station, turn right and the stop is just 20 paces away.   Again, alight at the "Forest Road" stop.   From Chadwell Heath and Grange Hill, bus 362 will get you to that same stop - but with a 30 minutes' service.

The track has been hired from 2pm, so allowing warm-up time, and is hired until 4pm so allowing for warm-downs.   A large function hall (holding up to 100 persons) is being hired for our post race reunion/buffet/social.   An attractive package is being planned, as happened at our successful 300th and 400th races (i.e. special 'T' shirts and mementos).  These aspects are currently under discussion, so we can't give exact details until Essex Walker's next edition.

The course is easy/safe/traffic free.  The Cycle Circuit is directly opposite Forest Road Crematorium, where so many readers assembled last June to bid farewell to Essex League regular Laurence Dordoy.

Opinions on how we celebrate this milestone and also seeking views on whether it should be our final Essex League race ("500-and-out") have been sought for 18 months.  Only 5 ever responded with any view.   At this late stage, if you've ideas on such issues, or about what should happen on the day (or beyond) then please respond and we'll pass comments to our Honorary County Walking Secretary Ray Pearce - or you can contact him directly.  Despite this lack of interest a devoted few are determined that our 500th Essex League race won't pass without celebrations, and their commendable efforts are now in progress.

Full details of July 3rd will be in your next edition of Essex Walker.

               Issued by the Essex Walker Information Service

The National 20km Championships at Victoria Park was another great occasion for the sport when more than 100 walkers gathered with various goals and various results!

At the top of the pecking order, the men’s race was won by young Tom Bosworth in a shade over 90 minutes although most of the spectators present felt he would have gone sub 89 and achieved the qualifying time for the Commonwealth Games had it not been for the unhelpful strong winds.

Six men under 96.20 and nine club teams finishing was a welcome return to a high quality result sheet.

Jo Jackson continued her relentless drive towards world class with a classy and relaxed 99.14 victory in the women’s race to ensure her selection for both the World Cup and Commonwealth Games later this year.

She followed this up with a magnificent third place at the IAAF Challenge in Sesto San Giovanni, the first Briton to ever reach the podium of an IAAF Challenge event.

The 20km championships were combined with the YAG Championships and is certainly the way to go forward in the future and it was interesting to note that there were two non English victors in the YAG races, one from the Isle of Man and one from Northern Ireland.

The event received outstanding support from both the UKA and England Athletics media departments with both organisations giving the pre and post event coverage top billing.

A sponsor also provided t shirts on the day which we welcomed by all who took part.

One of the most interesting stats from the championships was that there was more than 1 million metres walked on the day! (1,165,850m to be exact!)

June sees the turn of England to host the annual so called small nation’s match which will be contested by England, Ireland, Belgium, Netherlands, Switzerland and Denmark.

The event, which has an EAA Permit will take place in Bedford on June 20th and includes a final Commonwealth Games trial and is of crucial importance for the development of the senior walkers for the future of the sport in England.

In an exciting addition, the junior 10km races will take place on the track as part of the UK Junior/U23 Championships.

The rescheduled National and International 50kms will take place in London on October 20th along with supporting events.    

 

Finally, as part of the big build up to London 2012, the 2011 National Championships will be on the Olympic Course in the Mall which will certainly be one to tell the grandchildren about.

Only 11 months of training left……

 

Peter Marlow