Race Walking New Zealand 10,0000 metres Inglewood 26 January 2008
There were 10 walkers on the start line for this championship event at the Inglewood track on Saturday evening. With a start time of 5:30, there was always a chance that it would be very hot (especially in Taranaki). This proved to be the case with the tempature nudging 28 degrees, there was also quite a strong head wind on the back straight. In these conditions we were unlikely to get fast times. To their credit though, all competitors just battled that much harder.
In the men's race, Glenn Burrell cleared away from the field from the start and the only time the other walkers saw him was when he lapped them. In the early laps Eric Kemsley was chased hard by Gary Little, but after about 1.5 km Eric gradually pulled away. Peter Baillie walked his own steady pace throughout the race and eased into 3rd place, where he stayed until the end. Peter just seemed to think the headwind was a mere zephyr and seemed least troubled by it. The most interesting battle was between Mike Parker and Gary. Mike being the experienced campaigner started at a sensible pace and the moment Gary started to slow a little, Mike set his sights on his quarry. Sure enough as the laps ticked away the gap closed, once he caught his prey he toyed with him for a lap and then pounced and was gone. Gary tried valiantly to stay behind him, but in the end, Mike pulled away to finish in 4th place.
In the women's race Rachel Gilberd and Alison Samson show away the moment the gun went. Rachel knows only one way to walk and that is as fast as she is able for as long as possible, and then guts it out to the finish. This is exactly how she walked on Saturday night and was the deserved champion. Alison certainly proved to have a fantastic turn of speed, but it was not her night. After about 2km she developed the stitch and you could see the pain on her face for lap after lap, she was forced to slow her pace and unfortunately missed the cut off of 60 minutes for the start of the last lap. This though was the most courageous walk of the night, with this amount of strength, Alison will do well in the future. Natasha Lowl started at a steady pace and gradually increased the pace during the race to take second place.
Men's Results
1st Glenn Burrell - Taranaki Race Walkers - 49 mins 40 seconds
2nd Eric Kemsley - Taranaki Race Walkers - 53 mins 40 seconds
3rd Peter Baillie - Wellington Scottish - 54 mins 24 seconds
4th Mike Parker - Calliope - 56 mins 41 seconds
5th Gary Little - Bays Cougar - 58 mins 01 seconds
Tony Burrell - DQ
Women's Results
1st Rachel Gilberd - Inglewood - 60 mins 20 seconds
2nd Natasha Lowl - Taranaki Race Walkers - 61 mins 36 seconds
Alison Samson - DNF
Jan Bliekendaal - DQ
Thank you to all the competitors for making the effort to take part in this event, some of you travelled a long way to take part.
Athletics Taranaki did a tremendous job on the night in organising; it seemed to be like clockwork with the judges, lap scorerers and time keepers. the announcer seemed extremely well informed about the competitors. Thank you to Karen Gillum-Green, Wally Gillum and their team for having the courage to hold this event and making it such a success.
