Ontario Wins Walks match versus Michigan

Strong performances from Jianping (J.P.) Xu and Linda Wilson helped Ontario retain the Weinacker Cup, awarded annually to the winning team of the racewalk dual match between Ontario and Michigan.
This year's competition was held on the track in Port Huron, Michigan in very hot and humid conditions.  The difficult weather conditions slowed the times down in the 10,000m distance but didn't dampen the spirit of  Team Ontario, which won the match 24 to 14 points.  Jianping Xu was the top male finisher in a time of 52:54.3.  Linda Wilson won the women's side in a time of 62:08.5.
Congratulations also go to the other team members Lawrence Malek, John Kittredge, Ken Aitkins, Sarah Raetsen, Sharon O'Leary and Team Leader/Manager Nancy Leo for a job well done.
August 17, 2011 Athletics Ontario, Rundez-Vous

Linda Wilson is a Bytown Walker

--------------------------------------

WMA July 2011-Sacramento CA

10Km

Excellent scheduling and a meteorological break provided basically perfect
conditions for the WMA 10km races in Sacramento’s Land Park this morning.
When we got up at dawn to head for the W60+ race, the sky was actually
cloudy, and the temperature sent locals rushing for jackets, hats and
gloves. Noting that it was about 15 C, we put on long-sleeved T-shirts.
The skies soon cleared to their normal California blue and the temperature
climbed to just over 20 C for the later races.

So we could not have asked for nicer weather, nor a more pleasant course,
and the better prepared walkers took full advantage. The natural loop was
just under 1600m in length, meaning a separation of start and finish lines
by about 600m. Some more linear thinkers puzzled and fretted over what
their “1564m splits should be”. No one used to Immaculata gave a darn;
they just counted down the six laps once they crossed the finish line for
the first time.

The first race started at 0700. On the line were 63 competitors in 6 age
groups from W60 and up.  That included Eileen in the largest group, W65.
The loop swept counter-clockwise around the pitch and putt golf course
which early morning golfers had to share today with a constant line of
coaches and supporters trooping from one side to the other.  The
occasional ball bounced onto the course, or crashed through the trees to
land who knows where. But that too was “par for the course” for anyone who
trains in the Dome!

The best spectating drill turned out to be to watch the first three laps
from the start line, then head for the finish for the final ones.  It
meant that lap four went unrecorded, but that was of little importance:
“race well, and the time will take care of itself”. Eileen went faster
every lap after the second, and definitely would have had a negative split
if there had been a 5km mark to time it from. With a goal somewhere around
75 minutes, she looked as strong and controlled as he had in the 5000 on
Thursday and ended up with 73:39. This placed her 31st overall and 13th
out of 24 in the age group. (If anyone had any doubts about the level of
WMA competition these days, they should check out the winning W60 time:
57:20.)

At 1000, the women in the remaining 5 age groups, 68 in total, started
their race under bright sunshine, but with cool temperatures and a gentle
breeze. When it was all over, seventeen walkers, a full quarter of the
field, broke 60:00, behind the immaculate 49:52 of the overall 54-year-old
winner.  One of them was Linda Wilson, who, just like she had in the
5000m, broke away from the pursuers with a strong mid-race and then chased
down those ahead, lapped or not, to make sure of her 59:48. This placed
her 17th overall and 4th in the W55 group. Those top four finished in the
same order as in the 5000m.

Joanne and Susan walked together for the first three laps, clicking off
sub-11:00 laps very nicely. Just over halfway, Joanne had to stop for a
while to deal with some breakfast item that clearly did not agree with
her, leaving Susan to strike out on her own in her first 10km. But the
sub-11 laps continued, and all the hard work through the winter to
straighten her knee was so successful as to seem unnecessary in her
stylish debut. She finished with 68:13, placing 50th overall and 14th in
the W50 age group. Joanne was able to continue steadily after her break,
finishing with 70:55, good enough for 53rd overall and 19th in the W55
group.

An added bonus was the team medal for Linda as the second scorer on the
strong Canadian W55 team.  Team competition is a great idea – and the main
focus of international races like the World Race Walk Cup, for example.
The finishing places (or times) of the top three from each participating
country are added to determine the winner. In the case of the WMA, the
results system provides the necessary calculation without the fanfare that
a properly showcased team competition could have. Imagine if teams were
introduced beforehand, and interim scores were communicated with the race
in progress as they are elsewhere. But a World Championship medal is a
World Championship medal – and Linda has a gold one!

And so, with another four days to go in the competition, Bytown
participation in the 19th WMA Championships comes to an end. Starting with
Eileen arriving back tomorrow, and out to practice on Thursday, we will
return over the next couple of weeks, most of us with other adventures out
west ahead.  Those who competed so well here get a much-deserved break;
when you have “peaked”, there is only one way to go, and if you don’t plan
to come down off the peak, your body will make sure that you descend
anyway.

But it’s interesting how often the word “Brazil” comes up in conversation.
The next (2013) WMA championships are in Porto Alegre, the capital of the
country’s southernmost state, close to the border with Uruguay…

Roger Burrows, July 2011

-----------------------------

WMA July 2011-Sacramento CA

5Km

First up in a day and a half of 5000m race walking was Eileen. She was
scheduled to compete at 1050, but the tight schedule was never going to
work. An initial delay in getting the meet organized and the track time
required for the heptathlons and decathlons that were also going on pushed
her start time back almost an hour and a half. The delay is significant.
Being a weatherman in a Sacramento summer is a boring job:  “the early
morning and evening will be gorgeous, but stay inside between 11:00am and
7:00pm because only mad-dogs and Englishmen go out in heat like that. This
is a recording.”

So Eileen, and the other 25 in her group, raced on a blistering, shadeless
track well after noon. Time goals go out of the window when the
temperature is over 30C, and yesterday it was closer to 40C. But her
36:58.94, placing her in the top half of the field (12/26) was one of the
most technically excellent of her career. So maybe there is something to
her claim that W65 muscles actually work better when they are really warm.
She even took in her stride the extra lap required by the officials (a
problem soon solved by the timing chip and my list of splits).

The afternoon break meant that the evening session started more or less on
time. Now that is when a long delay would have come in useful as the
gloriously cooler evenings are still an hour or so away. I am not
particularly comfortable with heat of any kind, so I confess to being a
bit tentative. But, strangely in a field of 25, I was also in a bit of a
void, with a minute gap ahead and behind. So, even if I had beaten my Art
Keay PB, my position (14th) would have remained the same. I am not unhappy
with 31:35.29.

The W55 race had strong Canadian representation, with six in the large
field of 27, of whom four ended up in the top 10. A leading group of
three, led by the world record holder from South Africa, sped off into the
now cooling evening, leaving the close-combat racing behind. A very strong
and smart middle section by Linda Wilson eventually broke the contact with
a pursuing group that had as many as five in it at times. She finished
fourth in 29:12.87; the 27-second gap she had established by the finish
line was opened in the last few laps and makes the strong walking that
made it possible seem easier than it was.

Joanne Gage started conservatively according to the plan and found herself
a very obliging USA rabbit for several laps. The rabbit was eventually
thanked for her services and left behind, with Joanne in pursuit of those
in front. She caught at least one and was closing on another when the race
ended with her in 21st position with a time of 33:59.97.

By the time Susan M raced the W50, the stadium floodlights were coming on
and conditions were much more suited to northern racers – a Twilight Meet
on a nice day at Terry Fox was mentioned as a parallel. The leading
Australian duo took full advantage – the winning 24:25 was the fastest
women’s time of the day, even with three younger age groups to come.  In
the pack, Susan had a very strong and competitive second half, eventually
losing to “that darned Russian” by a second and a half (whom Susan then
proceeded to congratulate in her own language!) You will recall that Susan
jumped right over 33 minutes in her progression from the CMAA to Emilie’s;
this was the time to fill in the gap, with her 33:16.35 giving her 10th
place.

Roger Burrows, July 2011

-------------------------------

Ontario Provincial Championships 2011

It was a hot but pleasant enough mid-summer day early this morning, with the sun hiding behind some accommodating clouds until about 9:15am. The 5000m race walk began at 9:30, however when the clouds cleared away the hot, sunny, stickiness started to build strength. 
A small field  dominated by Bytowners, included Jo L, Sandy, Sharon Wright and Chiz. Also racing was Kitty Cashman from Toronto. There were 6 judges, including Dave Archibald and Ontario veteran race-walker June-Marie Provost, who may have been judging for the first time.
Jo, Kitty and Sandy started out in a close horse-race for the first 600 metres or so; Jo and Kitty then pulled away. It was a neck and neck for the first 5 laps (not surprising since Jo and Kitty had decided before the race to push/pull each other to start). About half way through the race Jo pulled away definitively and finished a clear lead at 28:55:80; Kitty in second at 29:15:53; and Sandy at 30:24:38. Translate into Jo: championship gold; Kitty, silver and Sandy, bronze. More bling for Bytowners!
Sharon Wright was a smooth, consistent 34:19:09 and Chiz finished in 37:13:55 after experiencing some enthusiastic judging.
All in all excellent times for the conditions, which included hot, humid weather and those busy judges

Eileen Sarkar , July 2011

----------------------------

May 2011

KRRA-Kingstone Limestone race weekend

Kingston certainly provided a scenic venue for the Limestone 5km and 10km races this weekend. The downtown and lakefront routes, that also passed the maximum security jail (“come to our Pen for the best view east of Alcatraz”) and the campuses of both RMC and Queens, were lovely. But forget the limestone, I propose that the event be renamed the Mayfly Mini-marathon and that bug nets, such as I saw at least one clever runner wearing over his head and shoulders, be provided instead of T-shirts.
Some organizational quirks were at play. The 5km and half-marathon onSunday morning were very well-organized. But although both days’ raceswere advertized by the Kingston Road Runners Association (KRRA) as part ofthe same program, it was fascinating how quickly KRRA people disassociatedthemselves from the 10km at even the most basic question about it. We could see their point - imagine one of the races on the NCRW turning out to be a mysterious, completely separate and ultimately unsatisfactory event. Held
in an area that could have provided a wonderful event (as the next day’s
half-marathon proved), the race was a technical disaster that would have been acceptable only as a “fun run” at a community fair.  Bytowners, and the other 100 or so participants, did well to get through it to race another day, in some cases 16 hours later. Here are the Bytown results.

Congrats to all, including age category medallists Sharon W and Angela.

10km (although we have no idea about the real distance), 114 participants:

89      Sandy               64:12
98      Sharon W         68:12
103    Angela             71:19
108    Sharon Chiz   73:57
112    Jenny               83:40
113   Kingston Linda 83:41


5km  199 participants (83M, 114W)

112    Linda W     46W    8AG   29:28
145    Sandy         70       10     31:45
160    Sharon W   84       2       34:30
161    Raymond    75     17      34:32
172    Sharon Chiz  92   16      36:08
175     Angela        95      3         36:42
194     Linda J       110      4       43:20

Roger Burrows, May 2011