Club News

Sunday 25 May 2008

The day dawned cold and bleak with sporadic showers. But the Olympic walking team was not put off by Trentham’s weather – and we were well prepared for the 42.195k relay. Four of the team had walked the Rotorua marathon 3 weeks before.

Vivienne Bott set the team off at a cracking pace and Colleen Singleton, Carol Lankshear, Andrea Adams, Carol Brieseman and Paula Binkhorst kept it up till the end. Paula put up a great tussle with another competitor at the finish resulting in a team time of 5h 24m 28s - 10 minutes faster than last year’s time.

Walking in the B division we were judged only for lifting – not maintaining contact. It was great to see some new teams entering this year – including two from Malvina Major. In all, 31 teams competed.

In the A grade judged race, Tony Sarginson for Auckland Racewalkers opened the gap on Glen Burrell from Taranaki Racewalkers and the spectators experienced one of the more exciting legs.

Thanks to Scottish Athletics for hosting the event, which included a well-attended dinner on the Saturday evening.

It is encouraging that Olympic now has sufficient walkers to make a team for most events. We are keen to have other walkers join us, so please tell your friends about the fun we have and the great events walkers can participate in.

For those interested, the following are our unofficial walking splits.

Name Distance Lap 1 Lap 2 Lap 3 Lap 4 Accumulated
time Viv Bott 7.195k 16.32 34.56 53.39 53.39 Colleen Singleton 5k 1.12.41 1.32.38 1.32.38 Carol Lankshear 7.5k 1.53.29 2.14.10 2.34.25 2.34.25 Andrea Adams 10k 2.53.09 3.11.49 3.30.55 3.50.04 3.50.04 Carol Brieseman 7.5k 4.08.14 4.26.28 4.44.46 4.44.46 Paula Binkhorst 5k 5.04.40 5.24.28 5.24.28
Colleen Singleton