The Victorian Race Walking Club

VRWC RACES, SUNDAY 23 JANUARY 2005, ALBERT PARK

Last weekend we staged our last Albert Park event for the summer. The Grand Prix was already encroaching onto our racing course but we managed to fit in a 1 km lap and the races were held without mishap.

Danny Hawksworth produced a 6 minute PB to win the longest event of the day. He stormed home with lots in reserve and we can expect to see this time slashed further at the National titles in Sydney in March. Simon Evans was the only other finisher but he struggled in the second half and is only getting back to race fitness at the moment. Carma Watson and Megan Szirom both showed good form but decided to call it quits with a few laps to go. Sandra Geisler and Daniel Lowe were the fastest of the 10 km walkers while Travis Middlemiss, Stuart Kollmorgen and Kellie Wapshott showed plenty of speed over the 5 km distance.

20 km Open walk
1. Danny Hawksworth      54:04    107:31
2. Simon Evans           56:00    119:50
Carma Watson             53:57    (retired at 15 km – 81:54)
Megan Szirom             56:00    (retired at 14 km – 80:26)

10 km Open walk
1. Sandra Geisler        57:38
2. Daniel Lowe           60:50
3. Celia Johnson         63:14
4. Sarah Alexander       67:58
Marlaine Stanway         retired at 5 km – 36:38

5 km Open walk
1. Travis Middlemiss     23:24
2. Stuart Kollmorgen     24:09
3. Kellie Wapshott       24:17
4. Russ Dickensen        27:53
5. Rachael Loone         28:09
6. Tim Girgin            28:54
7. Eda Girgin            28:55
8. Janet Holmes          30:15
9. Tony Doran            30:58
10. Robin Wood           36:03

3 km Open and Under 15
1. Bradley Elms          17:27
2. Jason Elms            24:03
3. Christine Griffiths   24:08

2 km Under 12
1. Cassandra Raselli     12:16
2. Taylor Brogan         12:56
3. Caitlin Bryers        12:58
4. Damien Elms           17:39

1 km Under 9
1. Sarah Burren           6:04
2. Jasmine Irshad         6:57

VRWC RACES, ALBERT PARK, SUNDAY 12 DECEMBER 2004

We held our last races for the year on Sunday December 12 and conditions were warm and humid.  It was great to welcome Frank Bertei back from his overseas travels and he was one of a group of our top walkers who used the opportunity for a training session together. Daniel Walters chose the 30 km distance while the others were content for a 20 km stroll. I wish I could still stroll that fast!

30 Km Open
1. Daniel Walters        54:14    1:45:13    2:37:49

20 Km Open
1. Frank Bertei          54:14    1:45:13
2. Chris Erickson        54:14    1:45:13
3. Danny Hawksworth      53:15    1:54:04
4. Trevor Mayhew         58:00    1:58:58
5. Ron McGregor        1:12:43    2:32:38

1. Simone Wolowiec       54:14    1:45:13

The 10 km races saw Travis Middlemiss and Kellie Wapshott take the honours but Kellie was forced to play catchup after turning her ankle on the first turn and losing a lot of time on the rest of the field. Sandra tried hard to hold her out but Kellie was just too strong in the last lap. Megan continues to work on her fitness and is showing the benefits week by week.

10 Km Open
1. Travis Middlemiss     49:25
John Bunker              Ab
1. Kellie Wapshott       54:07
2. Sandra Geisler        54:38
3. Megan Szirom          56:55
   Kylie Irshad           Ab (6 km in 35:54)
   Celia Johnson         Ab (6 km in 38:22)
   Rachel Loone          Ab (5 km in 28:36)
   Annette Major         Ab (5 km in 27:16)
   Carma Watson          Ab (4 km in 21:28)

5 Km Open
1. Janet Holmes          29:55
2. Gwen Steed            30:50
3. Sandra Howorth        34:58
4. Christine Griffiths   43:57

We saw only a small field of junior walkers due to the All Schools championships in Sydney. We welcomed Caitlin Bryers for her first walk at Albert Park and she showed good form to win the 2 km

U12 2 Km Walk
1. Caitlin Bryers        13:40
2. Nikki Apostolidis     14:07

U10 1 Km walk
1. Sarah Burren           6:19

1. Jordan Howorth         8:39

VRWC RACES, SUNDAY 21 NOVEMBER 2004

We had a good turnout for our VRWC summer championships. Our senior championships were won by Andrew Jamieson and Heather Carr with Heather winning the Stella Murnane Trophy for the eighth time in its 15 year history – that’s a great record. Daniel Lowe impressed with his 20 km finish and is getting back into good walking form. Megan Szirom is gradually increasing her distances and will soon be back to top pace.

20 Km Open Men Club Championship – Gus Theobold Trophy
1. Andrew Jamieson        1:39:48
2. Daniel Lowe            1:58:59

10 Km Veteran Women Club Championship - Stella Murnane Trophy
1. Heather Carr             57:36
2. Liz Feldman              60:26
3. Janet Holmes             64:08

20 Km Open
Megan Szirom              DNF (16 km in 1:34:42)

The 10 km event was a great finish with Chris Erickson coming from behind to just breast the tape ahead of John Bunker. Since John has consistently beaten me for the last few seasons, it was good to see an Erickson finally getting the upper hand! Carma Watson walked with John throughout the race and was rewarded with a good time of 54:50. Kylie Irshad has just found out that she is expecting twins – no wonder she slowed a bit in the second half – perhaps it was shock! Alan Lucas and Russ Dickenson were next over the line with consistent walks while Eda and Tim Girgin tested themselves out over their longest distance yet and crossed the line together (with the nod being given to Eda).

10 Km Open
1. Chris Erickson         54:39
2. John Bunker            54:39
3. Carma Watson           54:50
4. Kylie Irshad           56:57
5. Alan Lucas             57:21
6. Russ Dickenson         59:04
7. Eda Girgin             59:24
8. Tim Girgin             59:24
   Bob Gardiner           DNF
   Robin Wood             DNF

Most people did not realise who was out the front in the 5 km event – former international walker Bill Dyer who represented Australia at 4 Racewalking World Cups (1981, 1983, 1985 and 1991). Bill is also famous for being the youngest ever person to become a Centurion when he walked the 100 mile distance in 22:50:30 in 1977 as a 16 year old. Bill brought daughter Chelsea down to walk in the Under 12 event and decided to have a stroll himself. He looked good with his 27:11. Tony Doran had his first walk back at Albert Park for some time and is back after getting over some injuries. We also welcomed Darwin walker Nikki Pearce who took up the sport last year and has the makings of a good walker - although she did comment on how cold it was!

5 Km Open
1. Bill Dyer              27:11
2. Gwen Steed             30:43
3. Tony Doran             31:48
4. Robin Wood             34:44
5. Nikki Pearce           35:30
6. Christine Griffiths    44:36

We had only two starters in our Under 20 Championships. Sarah Alexander recorded a good time of 27:26 to win the girls event while Bradley Elms incorrectly stopped after 4 km so missed out on his medal – bad luck Bradley.

5 Km Under 20 Club Championship
1. Sarah Alexander        27:26
   Bradley Elms           Ab

Our under age Club Championships saw good wins to Daniel Payne, Cassandra Raselli and Sarah Burren.

3 Km Under 15 Club Championship
1. Daniel Payne           16:08
2. Ergenekon Girgiin      17:52
3. Jason Elms             23:51

1.5 Km Under 12 Club Championship
1. Cassandra Raselli       8:10
2. Emily Payne             8:55
3. Chelsea Dyer            8:58
4. Taylor Brogan           9:38
5. Nicki Apostolidis      10:08

1.5 Km Under 9 Club Championship
1. Sarah Burren           10:31
2. Jasmine Irshad         11:22

VRWC RACES, ALBERT PARK, SUNDAY 24 OCTOBER 2004

AUSTRALIAN 50 KM CHAMPIONSHIP
This prestigious event saw a disappointing entry list of only 4 Victorians – sad but not too hard to understand given the very late notification of this event - it was only announced in early August. By that stage, of course, everyone had completed their season and it is not possible to just drop everything, train for a couple of months and expect to walk a 50 km competitively. This illustrates the need for AA to set championship dates at least 12 months in advance. I believe that AA are now working towards this (let's keep our fingers crossed).
With defending champion Duane Cousins a late scratching, only 3 walkers started – Chris Erickson, Daniel Walters and Andrew Jamieson. Chris and Daniel walked together for the first 10 km (49:23) before Daniel increased the tempo to pass 20 km in 1:38:01, some 40 secs in front of Chris. Andrew was walking his own race further back, passing 20 km in a very conservative 1:50:01.
Daniel started to suffer from a hip problem soon after and was forced to retire around the 24 km mark. That left Chris well in front and he powered on to pass the 30 km mark in 2:28:35. But soon after this, he started to suffer back spasms (perhaps from the cold wind) and hit the proverbial wall!
With a big lead, all he had to do was keep on his feet to ensure a win and that's what he did to finally cross the line a very tired but relieved winner in 4:39:46. At only 22 years of age, Chris becomes one of the youngest ever Australian 50 km champions while at 58 years of age, Andrew becomes the oldest ever medallist in this event. This was Andrew' second 50 km event - his only other one was in 1971 when he finished in just over 5 hours. So his time yesterday (4:46:44) was a PB.

Other highlights on the day were as follows

• Liz Feldman covered the 50 km distance in 5:45:08 to break the World Masters W55+ record by 11 minutes. Her 30 km split of 3:23:31 will probably also be a World W55 record also. She also sets inaugural Autralian Masters records for these two distances.
• Jared Tallent won the Open mens 20 km event in a PB time of 1:27:02.
• Simone Wolowiec won the Open womens 20 km event in 1:38:01.
• Megan Szirom (nee Peters) amazed us all with a solid 15 km walk only 7 weeks after giving birth to baby Riley. Megan had baby and husband in tow and they were the centre of attention!

Full results for all events are as follows

Men's 50km AA & AV C'ship   10km     20km     30km     40km     50km
1. Chris ERICKSON           49.23    1.38.41  2.28.35  3.30.39  4.39.46
2. Andrew JAMIESON          54.48    1.50.01  2.45.17  3.43.06  4.46.44
   Daniel WALTERS           49.23    1.38.01  Ab.
   Duane COUSINS            DNS

VRWC 50km Open Club C'ship  10km     20km     30km     40km     50km
1. Liz FELDMAN              1.07.54  2.16.29  3.23.31  4.32.36  5.45.08

1. Chris ERICKSON             49.23  1.38.41  2.28.35  3.30.39  4.39.46   
2. Andrew JAMIESON            54.48  1.50.01  2.45.17  3.43.06  4.46.44   

VRWC Open 20km Women        10km     20km
1. Simone WOLOWIEC          48.22    1:38:01
Sandara GEISLER             58.32    Ab.

VRWC Open 20km Men          10km     20km
1. Jared TALLENT            43.18    1:27:02
2. Daniel LOWE              56.4     1:57:21
   Travis MARTIN            Ab

VRWC Open 15km Women        10km     15k
1. Megan SZIROM (PETERS)    60.25    1:31:28
   Claire WOODS             50.51    Ab
   Kylie IRSHAD             57.42    Ab.

VRWC Open 10km Women
1. Carma WATSON             54:01
2. Lisa WILSON              57:43
3. Alicia NEYLAN            1:11:31

VRWC Open 10km Men   
1. Ross REID                52:09
2. Danny HAWKSWORTH         53:58   
3. John BUNKER              57:27

VRWC Open 5km Women   
1. Kellie WAPSHOTT          24:24   
2. Eda GIRGIN               28:18       

VRWC Under 15 3km Girls   
1. Anne WHITWORTH           17:54   

VRWC Under 15 3km Boys   
1. Tim GIRGIN               16:04       
2. Daniel PAYNE             17:24       

VRWC Under 12 2km Girls   
1. Emily PAYNE              13:13       
2. Nikky APOSTOLIDIS        14:13   

VRWC Under 9 1km Boys   
1. Jordan HOWORTH            7:55   

VRWC Under 9 1km Girls       
1. Sarah BURREN              6:19   
2. Jasmine IRSHAD            7:01