Event results
Race report from Murray McGaughran:
Five hardy souls from the walking fraternity of Olympic and I thought that if it was good enough for the runners of the club to brave the elements and take on the Vosseler, it was only right and proper that we should find an event to compete in, in similar testing weather conditions, last weekend. So to the Marathon distance we turned and took on the Wellington Scottish hosted event, the 2009 Ekiden Walking Relay. No, we did not have to do a marathon each, we competed in a 6 leg relay over the marathon distance - 1 x 7.195, 2 x 5km, 2 x 7.5km and 1 x 10km. We were entered in the B division, which meant we only had to worry about keeping contact with the ground and did not have to use the locked leg technique of fully judged race walkers. Phew that was a relief!
We were fortunate that the runners took all the wind on Saturday, so we were only left with persistent drizzle and the occasional rain shower, ideal conditions for the event. You only had to try to stay warm and dry before and after your leg. The course was based on a 2.5km circuit around the CIT complex at Herataunga, Upper Hutt, part of that used for the Wellington Provincial Road Championships.
The team did very well and bettered the previous year's time by 9minutes and 40 seconds. Vivienne Bott took on first leg of 7.195km as she had the previous year and took a massive 2mins 31secs off her time. Viv was pushed all the way by a lady from Wanganui Harriers and managed to hold her off by 3 seconds. "That's the hardest I've ever had to race" and it showed with an average km time of 6.58, breaking under 7mins/km for the first time.
Paula Binkhorst was next up with the first of the 5km legs. Paula had a really good walk and improved by 33 seconds on her time from last year. I was up next having a go in my second ever walking event to help fill the team as a couple of regulars were away out of town. Taking on 7.5km of fast walking and trying not to break into a run was a harder challenge than I thought it would be. I started cautiously and took the first lap carefully trying not to run out of juice too soon. An Auckland walker started just behind me and soon had taken off into the distance. I could see the Wanganui Harriers team ahead, and set them as my target. I got a bit more confident on the second lap and could see I was catching the Wanganui athlete. I managed to pass her just before the end of the lap and to my surprise could see the guy from Auckland was coming back. He was still a way off, but I thought there is still 2.5km to go and I might just catch him. At each corner I was getting closer and put a big effort over the last km. As we entered the finish area with about 300 metres to go he was tantalisingly just 30 odd metres ahead. I was stuffed and wavered between yes I can, no I can't. When I made the last 360 degree turn back to the finish-line with about 150 metres to go, I thought it was a distance too far. Then all of a sudden he faltered and looked like he was going to fall over. He gathered himself and got back into his rhythm, but had done enough for me to think, he might do it again, so I gathered myself for a final big effort. It would not have looked pretty and would not have been textbook walking style, but I was determined and making sure I kept contact with the ground and did not break into a run, I went after him. Much to my delight I managed get up to his shoulder and pass him in the last 5 metres.
I handed over to Andrea Adams who had drawn the short straw and took on the 10km leg as she had last year. Andrea managed to crank out consistent laps in the 18min range and also did a better time than last year, taking 1min 16secs off her time. This was an incredible effort considering she had had a 12 hour flight back from Tokyo the day before. Carol Brieseman was next up and did the second 7.5km leg. Carol had a good steady walk and held the team's position despite some determined efforts from a couple of other teams.
Andrea's sister, Leah Gamboni, was our final leg walker and was another non-walker who had agreed to help the team out. A first-timer at race walking, Leah had a steady first lap then wound it up to go nearly a minute faster on the second lap. The team finished 10th out of fifteen teams. Some of the teams that finished well up in the B Division, looked like they were good enough to take on the A division, and maybe should have. The total number of teams was down on last year, with no SI teams, and several having to withdraw because they were unable to fly into Wellington. It was an interesting and enjoyable experience and there is great camaraderie among the walkers and lots of support for each other. A former Olympic club member, David Sim, was competing for the Auckland team that won the A division. David was one of, if not the first Olympic club member that took up race walking. He was kind enough to give me a few tips on technique as I was doing my leg, demonstrating that mutual support and encouragement athletes give each other, especially those that are or have been members of Olympic Harriers.
Team results:
Leg Year 1,2 Lap 1 Lap 2 Lap 3 Lap 4 Total Diff from '08 Per km
1 2008 Vivienne Bott 16:32 18:23 17:43 - 52:38 7:19
2009 Vivienne Bott 15:17 17:32 17:18 - 50:07 -2:31 6:58
2 2008 Colleen Singleton 20:01 19:59 - - 40:00 8:00
2009 Paula Binkhorst 19:24 19:49 - - 39:13 -0:33 (leg 6) 7:51
3 2008 Carol Lankshear 20:52 20:40 20:15 - 61:47 8:14
2009 Murray McGaughran 17:20 17:04 16:42 - 51:06 1st time 6:49
4 2008 Andrea Adams 18:43 18:40 19:06 19:09 75:38 7:34
2009 Andrea Adams 18:05 18:28 18:52 18:57 74:22 -1:16 7:26
5 2008 Carol Brieseman 18:09 18:16 18:14 - 54:39 7:17
2009 Carol Brieseman 18:23 18:28 18:52 - 55:40 1:01 7:25
6 2008 Paula Binkhorst 19:52 19:54 - - 39:46 7:57
2009 Leah Gamboni 22:42 21:38 - - 44:20 1st time 7:25
Total 2008 5:24:28
Total 2009 5:14:48 less 9:40