May 17, 2008
The Lions Championships Meet took place on Saturday, May 17th, at Elgin High School. A 1500 meter racewalk with about a dozen walkers kicked off about 7:45AM and was followed by a combination 3000 / 5000 meter racewalk around 9:15. Only one walker kept going for the 5000 meter distance; everyone else figured 3000 was enough. As is always the case at our local events, we had racewalkers at all skill levels, including some beginners.
For beginning racewalkers, especially, it is extremely valuable to racewalk with others who are more experienced. If you want them, you can get tips and feedback from other racewalkers and sometimes from attending coaches.
The official results from all the events at this meet have now been posted on the Waterloo Track & Field Club website. Click on “Results” at the top of the page then click on the Elgin meet from the list. The racewalking results are at the very bottom of the results page. We know that some of the stats are inaccurate as listed, so don’t take them too seriously.
Second Dave McGovern Clinic Brings Dallasites to Austin
May 2-4, 2008
Racewalking coach and author Dave McGovern conducted his second Austin clinic in under six months over the May 2-4 weekend. This time, the location was Camp Mabry. Local sponsor Pam Fron reports that about 20 people attended, the majority of them from Dallas.
15 Attend Racewalking Clinic
April 12, 2008
Waterloo Track & Field Club's Seth Brower reports that they had 15 or so people -- a mixture of "masters and youth, men and women" -- attend the April 12th racewalking clinic at Clint Small Jr. Middle School. Ten people stayed and participated in the 1500 meter racewalk after the clinic. Seth extends his thanks to Bert Pickell and John Knifton for helping with the clinic.
American-Statesman Article Features Austin Racewalking!
January 8, 2008
Fitness writer Pam LeBlanc wrote a great lead article for the Austin American-Statesman "Life & Arts" section of January 8, 2008. We hope that everyone interested in Austin racewalking will read the article -- at least, the online version of the story.
The main emphasis of Pam's story was on the almost injury-free nature of racewalking, which we think should be of great interest to all those runners we see on the trails with braces on their knees! She also covered the rules of the sport, the speed of world class racewalkers, did interview with racewalking coach Dave McGovern on the eve of his December Austin clinic and a lot more. It was really a very well-written and comprehensive article. She provided a link to Dave's website as a contact for his upcoming Austin Clinic #2 in May 2008 as well as a link to this website.
We think that every bit of publicity helps and this is the best publicity we have gotten so far for Austin racewalking. If it results in a few more Austin racewalkers on our trails, that will be great! The more Austin racewalkers there are, the more Austin racewalking events and clinics we will have here in the future.
Dave McGovern December Austin Clinic Big Success!
December 7-9, 2007
The well-known racewalking coach and author, Dave McGovern, completed a successful racewalking clinic here during the December 7-9, 2007 weekend. Dave's a former member of the U.S. National Racewalk Team. He's been on six World Cup teams and six Pan Am Cup teams.
He's been conducting racewalking clinics around the globe since 1991. He works with people at every stage of their racewalk training, from rank beginner to trained athlete. Many of his clinic graduates have gone on to win championships and set age-group world records. At the Austin clinic, it appeared as though about half of the participants were beginners.
We had 27 participants in all, who came not only from locales in Texas but from as far away as Maine. As part of the clinic, Dave shot videotape of everyone before any training, then again after a full day of of individual and group feedback and instruction. The differences ranged from subtle but important -- with some of the experienced racewalkers -- to very dramatic changes with most of the beginners. It was clear to see, on video, that everyone, without exception, showed improvement in technique and that everyone got faster. Of course, training over time, using the techniques learned in the clinic, will provide the greatest, lasting payoff.
So, thank you, Dave, for a great Austin clinic! And thanks to Pam Fron, for coordinating the event and providing a great dinner for the clinic participants at her house on Friday evening. She did a tremendous job!
For more information about Dave and his clinics, check out his website.
Saturday, November 3, 2007
Silicon Laboratories Marathon Relay
September 22, 2007
That does not sound like much until you realize that all the other teams were running while ours was walking! Our team beat 35 running teams with an average team pace of 10:06/mile.
Austin Racewalking Clinic
September 15, 2007
In addition to John, we had another former Olympian on hand to help out, Vincent O'Sullivan, who was on the American racewalking team in the '84 Olympics.
Some who came out for the clinic were experienced racewalkers while one or two were beginners who had never racewalked a step before that day and wanted to get a grasp of the basics. John went through a series of basic instructions and drills for everyone. He and Vince also provided a lot of individual instruction for those who asked for it. There were quite a few video recorders on hand, so most people had videos made of themselves or someone else made one for them. John made the point that there is nothing like having a video of yourself racewalking to be able to see clearly what you need to work on.
KXAN-TV Reporter Interviews Olympic Racewalker John Knifton
September 14, 2007
We would have liked this interview better had there been more talk about the almost-injury-free nature of racewalking and how much fun it is and a little less talk about how it "looks different" but with TV you have to take what you can get in the few seconds you end up with. John Knifton told us that he and Swift did talk more about substantive issues but, of course, most of the interview ended up on the proverbial cutting room floor.
Still, anything that promotes racewalking in Austin is a good thing, we think. Here is the script of the interview, on KXAN-TV's website.