Tim's Racewalking Quiz

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With the world wide COVID-19 pandemic shutdown in 2020, I didn't have any races on which to report in my weekly Heel & Toe Online newsletter, so I posed 5 racewalking related questions each week. These questions are captured here for posterity. Some involved a fair bit of research on my part and I did not wish to lose that work.

If you wish to submit any further questions to add to the mix, feel free to email me at terick@melbpc.org.au.

Here we go:

Lots of Australian racewalkers regularly break World Masters records but only a few have broken Open World Records. Who was the most recent Australian walker to break a racewalking open world record - name, year, venue and time? Jump to Answer 1
The 100m rule allows for a walker to be disqualified by the Chief Judge in the last 100m of a race. Did you know that in one major championship, this was done, the athlete lodged an appeal and it was successful, allowing the walker to take the bronze medal? Details please. Jump to Answer 2
One for our long distance walkers. How many Australians have qualified as British Centurions? Names and years please. Jump to Answer 3
Which is the oldest racewalking club in Australia? When was it formed and what was its original name? Jump to Answer 4
Which male walker has the most appearances in the World Athletics Race Walking Team Championships? Name and years. Jump to Answer 5
Which Australian walker has the most appearances in the World Athletics Race Walking Team Championships? Jump to Answer 6
Which Australian walker has broken the most number of official world records? Jump to Answer 7
Who was the first Australian walker to have a performance recognised as an official World Record? Jump to Answer 8
Which Australian walker has the most medals from major championships (Olympics, World Champs, World Team Champs, Commonwealth Games)? Jump to Answer 9
What are the longest standing and the most recent Australian racewalking records? Jump to Answer 10
What parent/child combinations have both represented Australia in major racewalking competitions (Olympics, World Champs, Commonwealth Games, World Cup, etc)? Jump to Answer 11
Who was the first female Australian walker to officially complete 100 miles walking in 24 hours? Jump to Answer 12
Which Australian walker has swum the English Channel? Jump to Answer 13
Has any Australian competed in both walking and running events at the same Olympic Games? Jump to Answer 14
Which Australian walker represented Australia at three IAAF World Junior Championships? Jump to Answer 15

Which walkers have represented both Australia and another country in major racewalking competitions? Jump to Answer 16

Which walkers have been awarded the prestigious Athletics Victoria Number 1 competition bib? Jump to Answer 17

Which Australian walkers are members of the very select group that have ‘shot their age’ - ie played 18 holes of golf where the score is the same or less than their age. For example: You're 72 years old and you scored 72 strokes or less. Jump to Answer 18

Which Australian Centurions have represented their country in major racewalk competitions (hint – 5 overall)? Jump to Answer 19

Which English Centurions have represented their country in the Olympics (hint – there are 8 of them)? Jump to Answer 20

Who was the Australian woman who first fought local male authorities and completed her State 50km Championship? You won’t see her name in the results as the officials of the day refused to acknowledge her performance and refused to put her name in the results. Jump to Answer 21

Which Australian walkers have represented Australia at 3 separate Olympics? Has anyone done 4 Olympics? Jump to Answer 22

Which Australian walkers are/were champion open water swimmers? Jump to Answer 23

What Australian walker lost out on an almost automatic selection for the 1940 Olympics when WWII intervened? Jump to Answer 24

Which Olympic racewalking champion is quoted as enjoying the following eccentric training session: “When time permits, all clothing should be removed for a run round a secluded garden, especially if it be raining at the time.” Jump to Answer 25
Which walkers have represented 3 Australian States at national level (in either RWA or AA championships)? Jump to Answer 26
Which well known Australian racewalking identity was such a keen gambler that he produced a small booklet on how to win at blackjack? Jump to Answer 27
Which Oceania walkers, currently living in Australia, have represented their native (non-Australian) country in international racewalking competitions? Jump to Answer 28
Which brother/sister combination(s) have each won Australian Racewalking Championships? Jump to Answer 29
Which Olympic silver medal winning walker was affectionately known as the “Alma Ata Hippy”? Jump to Answer 30
Alas, they are all gone now, victims of the increasing traffic flow on our roads. Name four of the now defunct VAWC Roadwalk Classics which used to be contested annually in Melbourne and surrounding areas. Jump to Answer 31
Which VAWC member was justifiably known as the “iron man” of Australian walking for his many amazing endurance feats in the 1960’s and 1970’s? Jump to Answer 32
A double barrelled question – who was the first Australian walker to feature on a postage stamp, and how many Australian walkers overall have have had this honour bestowed on them? Jump to Answer 33
What walker competed in and successfully finished an Australian 20km Championship while walking barefoot (the whole way)? Hint – it was not in the olden days but was some time this century. Jump to Answer 34
Which VAWC member had the unique claim of surviving being struck by lightning on 3 separate occasions. Jump to Answer 35
Are there any international walkers who have also represented their countries in major international championships in other sports (eg at World Championship level, etc)? Jump to Answer 36
You would have read above that 1908 Olympic walk champion George Larner has a bus named in his honour. Do any walkers had streets or walkways named in their honour? Jump to Answer 37
Which European coach took his adopted country to the top of the racewalking world and revolutionised racewalking along the way, changing it forever? Jump to Answer 38
Which dual Olympic racewalking medallist is now a successful artist, with his monumental sculptures gracing city skylines in hi s own country and around the world? Jump to Answer 39
Who was this astonishingly good walker? For more than a decade, he was regarded as the finest competitive walker in the world and was New Zealand’s first world champion. Jump to Answer 40
What Australian and Victorian racewalking champion and record holder danced from Geelong to Melbourne, using relay teams of female partners, covering a distance of 50 miles in 12 hours to set a record that will almost certainly never be matched? Jump to Answer 41
Which Olympic Gold medal winning walker had the preface of his autobiography written by the Prime Minister of his country? Jump to Answer 42
To win an Olympic racewalking medal is amazing. To win a second puts you in very elite company. But a very small subset of the truly elite have won 3 or more Olympic racewalking medals. Who are these ultimate champions? Jump to Answer 43
His father was Queen Victoria's favorite walker so it was no surprise that he was attracted to the life of the long distance walker, long after the heady days of professional pedestianism had passed. His amazing walks mark him as one of the greatest of the long distance walkers. Who was he? Jump to Answer 44
Which two Olympians from the 1968 Mexico City 50km walk met again in the 10km walk at the World Masters Championships Perth in 2016 (although in different age groups)? Jump to Answer 45
What Victorian walker is remembered for his uncanny ability to raise money? He was without a doubt the best grass roots fund raiser Australian athletics has ever seen. Jump to Answer 46
What Victorian walker started as a sprinter, progressed to distance running, where he was a Victorian Country marathon champion, and finally turned his attention to walking in his mid thirties, rewriting the Australian racewalking record books and going on to have a fine international racewalking career? Jump to Answer 47
Who was the Victorian walker whose active career in the racewalking world extended over an amazing 76 years and whose accolades included international judge, coach and author and even included a ban for breaking the rules governing amateur sport? Jump to Answer 48
Which Olympic champion racewalker was once chased by sword weilding samurai - and did he walk or run to get away from them? Jump to Answer 49
What racewalker was caught up in the infamous drama when Palestinian terrorists broke into the 1972 Olympic Village with the intention of taking the entire Israeli delegation hostage? Jump to Answer 50
Which Victorian walker boasts the longest and most prolific national career (in terms of winning Australian and State Championships medals) of any Australian. Jump to Answer 51
Which Australian international walker eventually decided to put his work career ahead of his athletic career, going on to earn a PhD and now working as a scientist for a major company in Switzerland? Jump to Answer 52
Who is the Australian walker who won two World championship golds, earned a bronze in the IAAF World Cup and set over 30 World records or World best times. Jump to Answer 53
What Victorian walker was so fast that he lined up against a field of runners in a 60 metre dash in an AV Special Meet at Olympic Park in Melbourne, walking a time of 9.9 secs. Jump to Answer 54
Who was this famous English walker? He was suspended by the Amateur Athletic Union (AAA) for breaching the laws of amateurism because of his musical stage show in which, dressed in singlet and shorts, he would burst through a large screen depicting the finish line of the London to Brighton walk and then proceed to showcase his violin repertoire? Jump to Answer 55
He is the writer of one of the best selling and most influential horror stories of all time but he was also a champion endurance walker during his time at Trinity College in Dublin. Who is he? Jump to Answer 56
Which walker won a medal in a Victorian Open Championship, then had to wait 28 years to win his next? Jump to Answer 57
Which walkers to have won 50km medals in three Olympics? Jump to Answer 58
Which teenage Ivanhoe Harriers walker (sadly now deceased) dominated junior walking in Victoria in 1970-72, showing precocious talent over longer distances? Jump to Answer 59
Which walker, having just won his Olympic 20km event, was on the phone to his country's president when interrupted to be told he'd been disqualified? Jump to Answer 60
Which former IOC president once described his race walking experience as "the closest a man can come to the pangs of childbirth"? Jump to Answer 61
Who was Australia'a first racewalking National Event Coach? Jump to Answer 62
Who was the first Australian to break 4 hours for the 50km walk. And as a related question, which Australian walker has broken 4 hours for the 50km on the most occasions? Jump to Answer 63
Who was the walker who collapsed from heat exhaustion with only 500m to go in a Commonwealth Games 50km, while 5 minutes ahead of his nearest rivals and with the gold seemingly his for the taking? Jump to Answer 64
What English international racewalker tackled the Trans-America challenge in 1972, thinking he had to beat a record time of 64 days, only to find mid walk, that a South African runner had just reduced the record to 54 days? Digging deep, he increased his walking pace to complete the 2,891 Mile challenge in 53 days 12 hours and 15 minutes – at an average rate of 54 miles (87km) per day! Jump to Answer 65
Can you list all the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games and major World Athletics Championships that have been held in Australia? Jump to Answer 66
In the early days of the Lugano Cup, there were a few hardy walkers who raced the 20km/50km combination on successive days to help their country out from a points perspective. But in the modern era, you don't normally try to walk the combination unless there is a significant time gap between the two events. What walker won a 20/50 combination in a major meet, with only 36 hours between when the 20km started and the 50km started? Jump to Answer 67
What athlete won the first women's walk contested at the Commonwealth Games? Jump to Answer 68
What Australian walker was directed back into the Olympic Stadium when he still had one lap of the 2km course to complete? His 26th place finish was later amended to a DNF. Although he subsequently received an official written apology from the Olympic Games LOC and an explanatory note was also attached to the official results, it was probably a poor consolation for a walker contesting his first Olympics. Jump to Answer 69
Which Australian walkers have contested the 20km/50km double in Olympic Games competition. Jump to Answer 70
Who won medals in separate Olympic 50km races with the exact same time? Jump to Answer 71
Who was the last 50km Olympic walker to medal in a time above 4 hours? Jump to Answer 72
What athlete (it wasn’t a walker) was selected to represent his country in 3 Olympics but yet never got to the throwing line (yes, it was a thrower) in any of the 3 Games? Jump to Answer 73

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